Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Just when Alex Tuch's childhood team got good, he decided to take the money and leave.
The Buffalo Sabres have completed a sign-and-trade deal with the Washington Capitals, signing the winger to an eight-year, $84 million contract and then trading him for a 2027 third-round pick and 31-year-old center David Kampf.
In his career Kampf, has won over 51% of his faceoffs. Last season in 40 games with the Caps and Vancouver Canucks, Kampf netted two goals and four assists for six points.
He's played 576 NHL games with these two teams, as well as the Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Blackhawks.
Kampf is an unrestricted free agent come July 1, and made $1.1 million last season.
Sources say the Sabres upped their offer to Tuch, but it is believed to be still under $10 million per-season.
Sabres general manager Jarmo Kekalainen was refreshingly candid talking to the media on Wednesday.
"I don't think we've come to any point in our talks that would indicate he would want to sign with us, so I think he's moving on and going to free agency, as we used him as a rental for our own team," said Kekalainen.
"We made it clear to him that we wanted to sign him, he was an important player for us and a good leader, but sometimes when the players have the power to choose, they choose differently."
There were factors for Kekalainen that made him feel it wouldn't be good business to meet Tuch's price.
"One thing I've always said is it depends on the contract," Kekalainen said. "Obviously with a 30-year-old player, there's risk involved if you want to go eight years. Then there's the money, and we're tight on the cap this summer, because we have that [Jeff] Skinner buyout counting [$6.44 million] against our cap. And then we'll get into a lot better situation a year from now. What we needed to consider is if we sign him to a certain number, does this now mean we have to take two or three, maybe four players off our roster to make it work cap-wise? That was a balancing act with our take on things. He's a good player, but we have a lot of faith in our group. He's going to be missed, but we'll be fine."
"Nothing disrespectful to Alex Tuch. He's been a great player for us, but we have a lot of good players in our lineup. If you look at the number of players that we have that played really well this year in the NHL, it's almost like I don't know where we're going to fit them all into a 23-man roster.
"If we get Jiri Kulich back like we expect; [Konsta] Helenius came in in the playoffs and played like he had played five years in the NHL, and has two full season under his belt in the American League; [Noah] Ostlund played really well for us this year. We have a very positive problem of we don't know where to put every player. We have a good plan on how to replace Alex Tuch, but we'll look at every option, whether it's free agency or trade. But we have a lot of internal options."
This was also our first chance to speak with the Sabres general manager about his trade that sent defenseman Bo Byram to the Blackhawks.
"We liked Bowen Byram a lot. We wanted to re-sign him, but that wasn't going to happen," Kekalainen said. "We had to make a decision, and the deal we had in front of us was too good to pass on. Now we have some draft capital to improve our team.
Kekalainen says Byram didn't want to negotiate any new deal to stay in Buffalo, and he wasn't going to sign. It left the Sabres with no other option to do anything else.
"We tried to convince Bowen to stay, that was the first priority," Kekalainen said. "I was working on that the whole year, because I thought his role was big on the team. But he wanted the chance to be a No. 1 defenseman, and I respect that."
Kekalainen says Chicago wanted to know if they could get him signed before they made this trade.
The Sabres' first trade of the offseason was sending defenseman Michael Kesselring to the San Jose Sharks. Kesselring did not agree with how head coach Lindy Ruff handled him, but Kekalainen said it was more than that.
"I was a bit mutual," he said. "I think we would've liked a little bit more patience probably than his camp, because we still think he's going to be a good player in this league. But he's another player with one year left until free agency, and if we couldn't agree on a contract and he took us to arbitration and there's a one-year award, we can't trade him and all those different things from the CBA that you have to weigh in when you make those decisions. We thought it best for both sides to move on."
There are many that feel the Sabres' goaltending situation is very weak and needs improving this offseason. Kekalainen isn't one of them.
"I think our goaltending was strong this year," he said. "The position is so scrutinized that you have one bad game, then all of a sudden the opinion in [the media room] and outside is the goaltending is not good enough. But their numbers were very good. [Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen] had a .910 [save percentage] for the season, and that's a very good number in today's league. So we have a lot of faith in the group. Right now we're thinking of doing the same thing, but it's like any position, we're always looking to improve."
Round 1 of the 2026 NHL Draft is Friday in Buffalo. I'll be in Orchard Park at the Buffalo Bills' team facilities with the Sabres, while Brian Koziol, Brayton Wilson and Joe Cali will have you covered from the arena starting at 7 p.m.
