The Buffalo Sabers have a chance to end their 14-year playoff drought.
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For all intents and purposes, it looks like Alex Tuch will be sticking around to make it happen.
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported this week that Tuch isn’t likely to go anywhere despite previous trade winds swirling around him.
Tuch, in the final year of his contract, would have been a logical selling player for a seller. But these Sabers are not sellers.
“Buffalo is not a seller. They’re going for it,” Friedman said. “The bet on Tuch is that he’ll stay in Buffalo next week, whether there’s an extension or not. Even if they don’t sign him, and I would hope at this point they don’t, I think he’ll stay.”
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Friedman went on to cite precedent from this pick involving the Sabres’ new general manager.
“Let’s not forget that Jarmo Kekalainen has been in this position before,” Friedman said. “When Columbus won their first playoff series, beating Tampa, they had some UFAs and Jarmo was in a position where he just said, ‘You know what? Columbus has never won a series; let’s go for it. And if we lose guys, we lose guys.’ And that’s what they did. So he understands this, he knows how to handle it. And I think that’s how he’ll do it in Buffalo.”
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The Tuch rumors seemed to have started before this season even began. It was simply a foregone conclusion that the Sabers would struggle and trade him elsewhere rather than sign an extension.
The extension hasn’t arrived, but the Sabers aren’t struggling. They have a great chance to make the postseason. Tuch even talks about wanting to win the Stanley Cup.
And unless something surprising happens right now, it looks like Tuch will stay where he is.