Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams has said twice that the team will look at everything, but the chances are pretty good that they won’t trade any of the four first-round picks or four second-round picks they own for the next two drafts.
Adams' reasoning behind it is because it’s better to make the picks to ensure that the organization has a pipeline of talent that just keeps going every season.
I understand where the Sabres general manager is coming from, but I disagree with it on one level. If the team could acquire a player like Alex Tuch - who is 26-years-old next week and can produce as a top-six forward - I’d be willing to part with a first-round pick, and maybe even a second.
A scenario like that would still leave Adams with three first-round picks and three second-round picks in two years.
Tuch came to Buffalo as part of the Jack Eichel trade with the Vegas Golden Knights. With Syracuse being his hometown, he came to the team he cheered for as a kid, and couldn’t have been happier. That’s exactly the player Adams wanted to bring to Buffalo to replace the entitled and the selfish.
In his time with the Golden Knights, Tuch averaged 20 goals and 46 points over 82 games. This year with the Sabres, Tuch averaged 20 goals and 63 points over 82 games.
If you remember, the 25-year-old didn’t play right away because he was recovering from shoulder surgery. He says that made it tougher to get himself settled in.
“Coming off an injury and coming into a new team, there were some growing pains trying to get back into it," said Tuch during his end-of-season press conference. "I mean, everybody else is in game shape, and you’re trying to get into game shape. So, at times, I thought it was a tough start, but I was able to find my groove pretty quickly.”
In his first 23 games with the Sabres, Tuch had seven goals and 16 assists for 23 points. In his final 27 games, he only managed five goals and 10 assists for 15 points.
“Going through the season, I had a little bit of a production lull, and that’s something I’m looking into not having next year," Tuch said.
“I don’t think my game wavered too much, but sometimes that happens, and that experience will help my career down the road.”
Tuch knew it was a dream come true to be traded to the Sabres, but it seems like it even exceeded his expectations.
“It’s been unbelievable," Tuch said. "It’s been so welcoming not only from my teammates and the organization, but from the entire city. I’ve seen nothing but unbelievable support, so I have to say thank you for that.”
Tuch was still one of the younger players in Vegas, but here, he’s one of the veteran leaders. Many feel he should be named captain of the team.
“My role from going from one of the youngest guys, to one of the older guys on this team is something that maybe made me a little more influential, or impactful within the group,” Tuch said.
One of the reasons the Sabres played over .600 hockey in the final two months of the season is they stopped blowing third period leads. Even if they got scored on, the team finally got panic out of their game and they kept moving forward to try to get that goal back.
“There’s been a huge change in that mindset, because when you’re going into the third period down by a goal four months ago, the mindset would’ve been, ‘Let’s see what will happen.’ Now, it’s whatever happened, happened, and now we can win this game," Tuch said. "So the belief in being able to win has elevated within our group each and every game.”
The Sabres really drew off the fans in the three games that they were there in numbers this season.
“I think we go in and work really hard, and Buffalo is a blue collar city. It’s a city that isn’t afraid to get their hands dirty," Tuch said. "It takes pride in what they have, and where they’ve come from. We have tremendous pride in that locker room to be able to put on that Sabres jersey and represent the great City of Buffalo each and every day.
“It’s waivered over the past little bit, and to see them really start to embrace us has been really special for not only me, but you can also see the excitement in some of the younger guys, who in the beginning of the season or last year, didn’t have the fans behind them. Now to see that we do has been amazing.”
Tuch is looking forward to the summer, because he hasn’t had a normal one in over two years.
“COVID created the bubble, and then our offseason was in fall. That was short, and last year I went two weeks in and figured out that I needed surgery, so I lost my entire summer," he said. "I was telling the guys that I haven’t golfed in a year-and-a-half, so that will be nice to get back on the course. But it’ll be good to get back to building my strength up, and trying to get more longevity. There are a lot of things that I want to work on off the ice.”
The fans want so badly for this team to take three steps forward next season to make noise in the playoffs. Tuch says they have to follow the process that’s been laid out.
“Our expectations are to win, and winning is making the playoffs. Winning is winning the Stanley Cup, and that’s what we’re building towards," he said. "I’m not going to make any promises for next season or the season after, but we don’t want to look too far ahead. We’re not going to say things that are going to be interpreted that we’re looking too far ahead. Right now, I’m worried about training camp. I’m worried about summer. I’m worried about building that, and to take it game-by-game, because if you start looking too far ahead, that’s when it doesn’t work out.”
In my mind, Adams should be looking for more players like Tuch. If it takes trading a first- and a second-round pick, I think it's well worth it.
In Calder Cup Playoffs action, the Rochester Americans are in Belleville on Friday, trying to sweep the Senators in two games. Head coach Seth Appert said Mattias Samuelsson still isn’t ready to play yet.
Aaron Dell gets the call in goal once again. Dell hasn’t lost in four games against Belleville this season, including the overtime win in Game 1.
