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1 hour ago
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The price is going up on Alex Tuch.
The talented forward is playing well as the Buffalo Sabres compete in their first postseason in 15 years, and he's a free agent after the season.
Those things are combining to raise the cost for Tuch when he hits the open market.
Will the Sabres be able to afford to bring him back? That's an open question at this point, and it might depend how the rest of the playoffs go.
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Daily Faceoff ranks him as the top unrestricted free agent in the entire NHL in the offseason ahead, so that could lead to a bidding war, too.
Their writer, Matt Larkin, thinks that Tuch will cost eight figures per season, and it'll just be a matter of how much.
"He had already expressed a strong desire to stay in Buffalo before the season started; now that he’s part of a Stanley Cup contender, his odds of re-signing skyrocket," Larkin writes. "All Buffalo has to do is meet what should be a significant asking price in the $10 million to $11 million range…wait, should that be $11 million to $12 million now? Tuch has been great so far in the playoffs, already nabbing two game-winning goals. The Sabres surely understood that the risk of having him unsigned by the postseason was him upping his stock even more, but that’s a nice problem to have."
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Tuch's path has been interesting, for sure. He entered the season as a logical trade candidate. If the Sabres had been out of the race by the deadline, it would've made sense to ship Tuch out on an expiring contract to a contender.
Instead, Buffalo became the contender, and so Tuch stayed put.
Sure, the Sabres could lose him in the summer if someone comes along with a giant offer. But if Tuch has helped them make playoff noise first, then keeping him around already would've been worth it.
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