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Alex Tuch could hardly have picked a worse time to disappear.
The Buffalo Sabres' talented winger put up zero points in the seven-game series loss to the Montreal Canadiens in the second round of the playoffs.
Even worse for Tuch individually, this was a contract year. He's now heading for unrestricted free agency, and the last everyone saw of him, he was not making a positive impact for the Sabres.
That has raised the question for some as to whether that will dock his free agent value, and it sounds like it won't.
"Tuch's zero-point performance against Montreal is not a major factor here," ESPN's Emily Kaplan wrote in a new article this week. "Every team, but specifically Buffalo, will be looking at the 30-year-old's larger body of work and all-around impact (including the fact he was a big reason the Sabres made the playoffs, and his four goals against Boston in the first round)."
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The bigger question for Tuch, and for whether he returns to the Sabres, is money.
This isn't a particularly strong free agent class, and so there's a decent chance someone offers Tuch more than Buffalo does.
"Tuch played below market value on his last deal, and though money is not the only factor here, he is viewed around the league as a highly desirable player who could command double-digit average annual value in a weak free agent class," Kaplan writes. "If Buffalo gets competitive, there's a path. If not, this could become a relatively straightforward decision."
The Sabres have a lot of young talent that might be ready to step into bigger roles, and so overpaying Tuch may not be the best move.
But if Buffalo feels it can keep the Syracuse native on its roster at fair market value, the Sabres seem likely to do so.
If they do, Tuch will hope to quickly erase memories of that brutal series against the Habs.
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