{"id":466205,"date":"2026-02-21T23:09:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T23:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/466205\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T23:09:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T23:09:26","slug":"sabres-rumors-alex-tuch-buffalo-not-on-same-page-in-contract-negotiations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/466205\/","title":{"rendered":"Sabres rumors: Alex Tuch, Buffalo not on same page in contract negotiations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sabres rumors: Alex Tuch, Buffalo not on same page in contract negotiations<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Buffalo Sabres<\/a> have been one of the big surprises of the 2025-26 NHL season, putting together a terrific 32-19-6 record before the league paused for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

A key part of the team\u2019s success this year has been forward Alex Tuch<\/a>, who is second in scoring with 22 goals and 48 points in 56 games. The 29-year-old is currently playing out the final season of a seven-year, $33.25 million contract; he\u2019ll be a UFA on July 1 if he and the Sabres front office can\u2019t agree to a new contract.<\/p>\n

Although the lines of communication remain open between Tuch\u2019s camp and general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, as The Fourth Period\u2019s David Pagnotta reported earlier this week<\/a> on an episode of Daily Faceoff\u2019s DFO Live, \u201cthe two sides still haven\u2019t inched closer to a contract extension.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the Sabres in the thick of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference, Kekalainen may decide to hold on to Tuch and essentially use him as the team\u2019s own rental if they cannot come to terms on a new contract by the March 6 trade deadline,\u201d continued Pagnotta.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sabres have not made the playoffs since the 2010-11 season and it may be the club\u2019s desire to hold on to Tuch for the playoff run and take their chances to try to sign him after their season comes to an end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Sabres should be adding ahead of the deadline, not subtracting<\/p>\n

Considering how potent the Sabres have been of late \u2014 they went on a 20-5-2 run to vault into playoff positioning in the East \u2014 it\u2019s almost certain Tuch will not be moved ahead of the March 6 NHL Trade Deadline.<\/p>\n

But if Pagnotta\u2019s reporting is accurate, it doesn\u2019t look like he\u2019ll be getting a new contract before Buffalo gears up for the stretch run, which begins on the other side of the Olympic break on Feb. 25.<\/p>\n

Tuch owns a five-team no-trade list as part of his contract.<\/p>\n

If the Syracuse, New York native hits the market on July 1, he would likely be one of the big fish of the free agency period. Pagnotta believes that \u201cthe way things are going, it is entirely possible that becomes reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing is stopping the Sabres and Tuch from ironing out an extension before the trade deadline, but the closer the two sides go without a new deal, the more other teams will try to pry him away,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Without a playoff appearance in 15 years \u2014 the longest postseason drought in North American professional sports \u2014 GM Kekalainen and the front office need to do whatever they can to keep this club in a playoff spot over the last two months of the regular season.<\/p>\n

This is the best team the Sabres have had in a long time, and management owes it to the fanbase in Western New York to make a splash and try to improve the roster further between now and March 6.<\/p>\n

Tuch and his Buffalo teammates return to game action against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday, the first of a three-game road swing.<\/p>\n

Related: Team USA\u2019s Tage Thompson suffers injury vs. Team Slovakia in Olympics battle<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sabres rumors: Alex Tuch, Buffalo not on same page in contract negotiations appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466206,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5100],"tags":[6452,1107,229,5133,5604,5,5325,151,4,1108],"class_list":{"0":"post-466205","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-buffalo-sabres","8":"tag-alex-tuch","9":"tag-buffalo","10":"tag-buffalo-sabres","11":"tag-buffalosabres","12":"tag-david-pagnotta","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-jarmo-kekalainen","15":"tag-new-jersey-devils","16":"tag-nhl","17":"tag-sabres"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116111144669135172","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}