ST. PAUL, Minn. – As Alex Tuch cleared the latest hurdle in his recovery from shoulder surgery, he and his father, Carl, had trouble processing the fact that the 25-year-old winger was on the verge of realizing a dream.
“We were just looking at each other and we were like, ‘Can I believe I will be playing for the Buffalo Sabres in a game here soon?” Tuch told The News at Minnesota’s Xcel Energy Center. “It was a little bit of disbelief because I used to sit and watch Sabres games growing up, and from the time I was five years old until I was drafted by Minnesota, I was a Buffalo Sabres fan.”
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Six weeks after arriving in the blockbuster trade that sent former captain Jack Eichel to Las Vegas, Tuch was cleared for contact prior to the Sabres’ three-game road trip to Winnipeg, Minnesota and Pittsburgh. With limited practice time in the condensed schedule, the Sabres had to get creative to prepare the Syracuse-area native for his first game, which could come as soon as Monday against Columbus.
As most of the Sabres prepared to board a bus back to the team hotel Thursday morning, Tuch was still on the ice absorbing body checks from assistant coach Matt Ellis. Tuch has been skating with the club in a yellow noncontact jersey for weeks, but he was forced to watch any drill involving contact. Coach Don Granato wants Tuch to experience more contact practices before his Sabres debut.
Nearly six months since his final playoff game with the Golden Knights, and after a flood of text messages from friends and family across his home state, Tuch had trouble describing the emotions of being on the cusp of playing for his childhood team.
Right-shot defenseman Casey Fitzgerald was recalled from Rochester to replace Hagg on the roster.
“Weird – I guess that’s a good first word – but exciting, for sure,” Tuch said. “Obviously, I was very excited about the trade when it happened, but the worst part about it was coming and not being able to play with a new team, to put the jersey on and go to battle with the guys. That’s something I’ve been really itching to get back into and being able to put on that Sabres uniform is going to be a dream come true.”
At 6-foot-4, 217 pounds, Tuch is a big, fast power forward with 66 games of playoff experience, including 20 in Vegas’ unprecedented run to the Stanley Cup final as an expansion franchise in 2017-18. Prospect Peyton Krebs, a 20-year-old center also acquired in the trade, is a pivotal piece in general manager Kevyn Adams’ plan to build a winner in Buffalo.
But Tuch is an accomplished NHLer who will immediately slot into coach Granato’s top six. Tuch had 61 goals and 139 points in 249 regular-season games with Vegas from 2017 through 2021. He has totaled 15 or more goals in three of the past four seasons, finishing 2020-21 with 18 goals and 33 points in 55 games.
In addition to providing centers Tage Thompson or Dylan Cozens with an established goal-scoring winger, Tuch will strengthen the depth of a lineup that’s missing Casey Mittelstadt, who is listed as ‘month to month’ on the injury report after recently undergoing surgery on an upper-body injury. Tuch is another player who fits in Granato’s fast-paced system.
“I don’t really have to change my game,” Tuch said. “It’s not like we’re focusing so much on defense that we take away from offense or focus so much on offense that we give up a ton defensively. We’re trying to get better in a lot of areas of the game and continue to do so. Honestly, I think this is a team that’s built for speed and our systems are built for speed. That’s what I like to bring to the table, a big, strong, fast power forward. That’s my type of game, so I will fit right in here.”
“My recollection of all those spots, whether it was Rob or Roger Clemens or Kerri Strug or whoever the athlete was, the producers of those spots nailed it,” longtime SportsCenter anchor Karl Ravech said.
Tuch immersed himself with the Sabres as soon as the trade was complete. He flew to Buffalo to meet his new teammates before returning to Las Vegas to prepare for the cross-country move with his girlfriend, Kylie, and their golden retriever, Teddy. The couple found an apartment on the edge of downtown Buffalo, and Tuch’s parents, Carl and Sharon, have made the trip west on Interstate 90.
With life away from the rink settled, Tuch began to bond with his new teammates. He watched practices from the bench before he was cleared to skate with the team and sat next to Dominik Hasek for a game in KeyBank Center. When finally cleared to join practices, Tuch flew with the Sabres for their road trip to Florida and Carolina early this month. Along the way, Tuch was impressed by a group he described as “tight-knit,” and he beamed when talking about what’s next.
“It’s been a pretty crazy road,” Tuch said. “Now I’m here, and it’s special, for sure.”
Injury update
Granato and the Sabres received more bad news on the injury front Thursday with defenseman Robert Hagg out "month to month" because of a lower-body injury.
Hagg, 26, missed the third period of the Sabres' 4-2 win over Winnipeg on Tuesday and returned to Buffalo to be evaluated by doctors. He leads the team in hits (49) and blocked shots (56) while averaging 17:51 of ice time across 25 games. Hagg was acquired along with two draft picks, including a 2021 first rounder, in the July trade that sent Rasmus Ristolainen to Philadelphia.
Colin Miller drew into the lineup with Hagg out long-term, and defenseman Casey Fitzgerald was recalled from Rochester. Fitzgerald, 24, had four goals and seven points in 21 games as a first-pairing defenseman with the Amerks this season.
