Alex Tuch Talks Contract Negotiations, Fatherhood And The Upcoming Season | Sabres Live

Tomorrow’s season opener for Buffalo. They’ll take on the New York Rangers who fell last night. Alex Tuck is with us as we get things rolling today. How are you? Good. How’s it going? Pretty good. So, do you get to watch hockey now that you have like responsibilities like kids and it’s like uh is it a man-on-man or is it a zone coverage? Yeah. No. Uh depend depends. I mean, I I leave a lot so it’s definitely zone for her, but once I’m home, it’s usually man on man, which is good. But no, it’s been great. I mean, uh, kids are usually in bed by 7, 8:00, so I get to watch a little hockey at night. Is Teddy a good, uh, big brother? Oh, yeah. Teddy’s the best. He’s great. He just follows my oldest one around cuz my oldest one drops some food. Okay. For those that don’t know, you got to follow Teddy Tuck on Twitter. That’s the dog. So, that’s on Instagram, I should say. My daughter tells me all the Teddy Tuck update on Instagram. So, should have put a new one out. He got groomed yesterday. He looks really good right now. He looks pretty good all times. Uh, for those that don’t know, can you give us the update on the burgeoning family? Uh yeah, so uh my wife and I just welcomed our second boy at the end of April there. Uh Teller Teller Luke Tuck and um obviously uh his big brother Trip was very excited. Uh it’s been uh it’s been a fun dynamic. They’re really close in age about 16 and a half months apart. So uh like I said, it’s all hands on deck right now at home. What’s the age difference between you and Luke? Six years. Almost six years. Big difference. Yeah. My brother and sister is six years younger. Okay. So, you decided, you guys decided, let’s let’s get into it. We’re in diapers. Let’s stay in diapers. Yeah. No. No. So, she’s uh my my wife’s a twin. She’s an identical twin sister. So, uh yeah, they grew up obviously very close and they’re still close today. And that’s something that I wish my my brother and I are really close now and same with my sister. But I wish I was a little bit closer in age with them. His big brother Trip uh with the hike sick uh in the kitchen on the floor, everything going already. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. He likes golf too, which is fun. He does both. He does both. So yeah, it’s it’s really lefty righty righty. I’ve noticed he’s a righty. So yeah, I thought he was a little ambidextrous at first. He’s throwing left, throwing right, and then he is and he’s he’s been righty all the way now. Duffer is all over the place. So just keep us posted when he starts goalending because we want to know what what hand he catches with. So never never going to happen. No way. Free lessons. Free lessons from Sabres Live. That’s what you get. So here you are. Couple of kids uh age 29 embarking on season number 10 in the NHL. What’s in store in season 10 for you? Hopefully a lot of wins. Hopefully a lot of wins. That’s that’s what we’re hoping for. But uh No, no, just really excited. Obviously, uh like you said, season 10, I think it’s 10 now, is it? I think so. Nine or 10. I mean, parts of you know. Yeah. Parts of Yeah. So, nine full seasons, I guess you can say now. So, that was uh Yeah. No, it’s it’s been an unbelievable experience. I mean, I I count myself as the luckiest guy in the world and uh to be able to play here now uh for my hometown growing up. It’s it’s been an unbelievable experience and uh really excited for I guess it’s season five here for me now. You ended up in the top 15 in Selki voting last year. What does that mean to you and how do you like further embrace that part of the game moving forward? Yeah, I think uh I think I’ve been trying to take strides in becoming that 200 foot complete player that uh is really hard to play against defensively and it was nice to get some recognition. Um but uh I wasn’t satisfied honestly. I I I want to be in the top five or uh even become a finalist at some point in my career and hopefully this year I can do that and uh that’s what I’m pushing for and uh that’s what I want. It’s not easy to do it from the wing. Like a lot of the SKI voters always look centers and all of that, but your impact on the penalty killer, I think, was what like opened people’s eyes like, oh, he’s a really good penalty killer and he can score short-handed goals, you can attack that way. Are you adjusting or are you watching what you did last year and trying to bring that same energy, that same uh aggressiveness in the penalty kill? Yeah, no, definitely. I I think there’s a lot of stuff to build off of and there’s stuff that I want to be even better at and I think that our penalty kill has some major steps that it needs to take to to be an elite penalty kill in this league and I thought we took some really good steps towards the end of the year and we were a lot better but uh we want to start off really hot this year. You started training camp with Mloud and Zooker and training camp kind of more with Koulique and Zucker. It looks like that’s the way it’s going to go tomorrow. Um what’s the dynamic with with Yuri? We were told yesterday by Josh Don that he is absolutely clueless when it comes to hockey players, teams, history of the game. Um, do you have to teach him a little something when you’re sitting on the bench next to him? No, I’ll let Zucks handle that. No, no, it’s good. No, they do have a pretty good relationship. They do. They really do. It’s been great. Yeah, Zox took him under his wing last year and it was awesome. I I thought I I thought it was um Zak is a great veteran presence, great leader in our room and stuff and for him to bring bring cool under his wing. I think that was that was awesome for him to do and I think it helped Yuri out a lot and um yeah, I’m sure he knows more than he’s letting on, too. Maybe he’s one of those guys, but uh no, definitely. I mean, I still think that he’s going to have an unbelievable year this year. He’s going to take steps uh that are going to really surprise people and he’s been awesome to play with so far this camp. What works best for you with him, Yuri that is. Yeah. I just got to keep pumping confidence into him. I think at times like being a younger guy, you don’t really know what you’re capable yet. So sometimes you’re trying to prove it or sometimes you can your confidence can shrink a little bit because of things aren’t going well and this and this way or that way. So, it’s uh it’s something that I I think uh Zucks and I are really going to be focusing on playing with him is to continue to push him but also just like make him know how good of a player he is and how good he can be. Uh and I I think in pit uh I think like in the first period he’s gripping his stick a little bit and we we I I talked to him and I was like just keep going just keep like shoot the puck like do what you know you’re best at and he ended up with two goals and uh in a little bit different area than he’s used to but we talked about that too. I feel like that’s going to be a place where he can surprise people and find a lot more goals than he even knows he’s capable of doing. Who did that for you? Or I mean, were you just born with confidence and you’re like, I got it. No, I mean, you go through the es and flows of your career and and there’s guys that are really good at picking you up and then guys that are a little bit harder on you. And uh I don’t know, I I actually his name came up in the locker room today, but Paul Stazzy. Yeah. Uh was an unbelievable teammate. He’s an unbelievable person and uh he was someone I I I leaned on a lot my first couple years in the league and uh he showed me how to be a pro. He showed me how to approach the game each day and uh he I learned a lot from him even just straight up hockey and like knowledge and um and the way to play the game the right way and um and that was really key for my I think my success in this league. That was kind of his thing, right? Like just very very hockey smart. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. He was so much fun to play with honestly. like that. I I remember he drew up this faceoff play in Carolina and he was like, “Just just go to the back door. It’s going to be there. Just go to the back door.” I almost missed the wide open net. And I looked at him, I was like, I can’t believe how wide open of an uh of a net I had. And it was incredible play right off the face off. He won it back, slipped through, and just tapped it to me back door. And I was just wide open net. It’s great. That’s pretty good. Um, okay. So, what about some of the newcomers? I mean, we did have Josh Don on the show yesterday. Um, Kessle Ring’s a new guy. You know, there’s there’s a few new faces here and guys that um, you know, are trying to earn more minutes, whatever. So, how do you think those guys impact what’s going to start tomorrow night? No, it’s great always to have some new fresh faces with different perspective come in. Uh, I think all of them have come in with a lot of energy. Um, they all bring a little bit something different to the team. Uh they’re filling holes that I think needed to be filled uh in this off seasonason and they’re coming in and playing really well. Obviously losing Kessle Ring right now hurts. Um but yeah, that’s big. We’re going to have to have that next man up mentality guys step in and fill that role until he’s back. And I think he’s going to be really dynamic for us and and have a nice strong calming presence on the back end. Uh obviously you got the workhorse of Don I mean Danforth. Uh, I think Timonss is going to be unbelievable for us as that another steady presence back there and list goes on and some guys that are trying to, like you said, um, make a little bit more name for themselves, jump in a little bit higher minutes and uh, situations and, uh, a little bit of size, right? Like I mean, you’re a big guy and you walk around and there’s a few big boys that just joined the rosters, a little bit of size that, uh, come and added that. Do you think that’s going to be something fans don’t know this? Oh, yeah. I mean, uh, Gearson is a is a guy that if you talk about size, he’s he’s a big boy. Uh, he’s he’s a unit for sure. And, uh, he can move out there. That was what surprised me most about him. He’s he’s got some wheels. He can get up and down the ice and he’s going to be scary to play against for those. I’m just glad he’s on my team because that guy’s going to be running some guys over and I think he’s going to be a fan favorite really quickly. Should I ask him how much he deadlifts and bench press? Is that what I should ask him? Five times more than you. Whatever the answer is. Oh, probably 10 times more. They had to use to take plates of the bar to for me to do the test. You have the mini bar for you. Everybody had to do 175. Hashek would show up. He’d be like, “I do 135.” And then I’d come in after him. I’d do the 135, too. No surprises there with you goalies. That’s for sure. Um, did you wish the general manager a happy birthday today? Is it Is it his birthday today? Hey, he walked by. I didn’t even know. I had already done so. I, you know, I just, you know, everybody’s wanting to know like how often you’re talking with him right now. I I haven’t seen him today. No. But uh yeah, I mean I He’s He’s around every day. I didn’t know it was his birthday. That’ll be Would that be a present for him or for you if and whenever like a contract gets done? Uh yeah, I think maybe both sides. Yeah. Yeah. No, definitely. But yeah. No. Are you okay with where everything’s at at the moment? Yeah. No, obviously don’t have a contract right now. Um where it’s at, I mean, we’ve had uh the contract negotiations. I haven’t, my agent has, and there’s been talks and ongoing talks and stuff. Uh, right now, I think we’re in a comfortable position with uh where it sits and uh just going forward. I’m just worrying about tomorrow, honestly. That’s that’s what my that’s what my whole focus has been on this whole summer is, yeah, if it happens, it happens. That’s great. But, you know what? I’m focused on being the best hockey player I can be. Uh, and the best teammate I can be, honestly. And and so, that’s what I want to do is I want to come out and I want to try to get a win against the Rangers tomorrow. Did you watch the Rangers last night? Did you watch any of the games? A little bit. I watched a little bit of it. I I had some stuff going on. Uh one of one of my kids didn’t want to go down for bed, so I was helping with that, but no, it was I got to watch a little bit of the game. Put a TV in their room so you can watch the game. Yeah, that’ll that’ll that’ll go over well. Exactly. Uh but they they played well defensively and Pittsburgh really, you know, kind of showed up and a lot of people think Pittsburgh and that’s the thing like at the start of every year people do projections and whatnot, then think Pittsburgh was going to be good. they go out and they really win a one- nothing game like tight defensively. Is the defensive approach especially playing a game like team like the Rangers the focus for tomorrow night? Yeah. Know I think that’s something that we’ve really focused on is trying to reduce the amount of goals against that we have this season as a whole. Uh and that starts with tomorrow night. That starts with uh being really good through the neutral zone. That starts with not uh turning pucks over and playing really good defensive hockey and um good backing too. I I I think is is a huge key. Especially against a team that that has so many skilled players, you can’t give them time and space out there. And that’s something that I think we’re going to focus on going into tomorrow’s game. Good luck this season. Thank you for stopping by. Thanks. I was going to say for a check, back check, paycheck. You know, that’s my mom always says that. She loves that thing. She loves those little things. That’s funny. That’s There he is. Alex Tuck.

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