Real reason the Sabres lost Alex Tuch is out and it's not what fans expected
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Buffalo's return for Alex Tuch is one 2027 third-round pick. The Sabres' 32-6-2 surge, not a stalled negotiation, is what set that price.
Buffalo did not lose Alex Tuch in a negotiating room. The Sabres lost him during the best 40-game stretch any NHL team has produced since 1996.
When Jarmo Kekalainen replaced Kevyn Adams as general manager on Dec. 15, 2025, Buffalo sat at 14-14-4 with Tuch six months from unrestricted free agency.
Tuch has said he expected to be traded. That was the standard outcome for a 30-year-old winger on an expiring contract on a losing team.
Then the Sabres went 32-6-2, won the Atlantic Division for the first time since 2009-10, and reached Game 7 of the second round.
The winning streak closed the only profitable window
That run deleted the March trade option. No general manager sells a 33-goal alternate captain while his team chases a first playoff berth since 2011.
It also priced him. Tuch finished with 33 goals and 66 points in 79 games, then signed for eight years and $84 million with Washington, per NHL.com.
Joe Yerdon has chronicled how the talks unraveled from Tuch's side.
Kekalainen said publicly that Buffalo made its interest clear, and that players with the power to choose sometimes choose differently.
The receipt is one draft pick
ESPN reported several teams were preparing large bids, and Washington paid to jump the July 1 line after losing Nikolaj Ehlers to Carolina a year earlier.
Buffalo received a 2027 third-round pick and David Kampf.
Kekalainen called Kampf a contract move that helped Washington meet roster limits.
Kampf never played a game for the Sabres. He signed a three-year deal with HC Litvinov in Czechia in July.
So the compensation for five seasons and 309 points is a single third-rounder in 2027.
That is the bill for contending a year ahead of schedule, and every rebuilding club with a walk-year star is now looking at the same invoice.
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