Some eight or nine long, painful minutes after coach Lindy Ruff told his team how proud he was, how he hurts too, and how the pain will eventually subside, the son of Syracuse, N.Y., walked slowly to the big laundry bin in the centre of the home dressing room and draped his royal-blue 89 sweater on top of the sweaty pile.
In his stall, adorned by his old shoulder pads and sharp tattoos, the 30-year-old hung his long, wet, John Wick hair over his face and exhaled. Save for a couple showered teammates fielding reporters’ questions about how it all went wrong, they’d all left. Eventually, Tuch shed the last of his hockey stuff and walked out of the room without a word.
Maybe for the final time.
“When you look around the room after a loss like that, you just feel pain. Because you just see all the guys and all the sacrifices and the hard work they put into the season, not for themselves, but for the guys sitting next to them. And a guy like Tucky has done that tenfold,” Tage Thompson said that night.
The star forward thought about his teammate’s uncertain future, which might well mean moving on from his hometown club after its best season in 19 years.
“I’m not too sure where his head’s at,” Thompson said. “But I can tell you, I’d love to have him back. He’s an ultimate teammate. He’s a leader on this team. He drives the bus for us. Guys in this room look to him. He’s vocal. He plays the game the right way. And he’s a big reason why we’re at where we are. So, yeah, I would love to see him come back.”
Then, the stinging caveat: “But, obviously, there’s a business side too. You don’t know where his head’s at.”
Despite going pointless in Round 2 against the Montreal Canadiens — a disappointment Tuch owned unprompted when he met with Buffalo reporters Wednesday — sometime between now and July 2, Tuch should sign the richest contract of his career and of all the NHL’s impending unrestricted free agents.
Whether that long-term windfall comes with Tuch’s current club is a mystery even the player isn’t ready to solve. Tuch says “a lot of thinking” will be in order over the next few weeks as his agent, Scott Bartlett, and Sabres GM Jarmo Kekäläinen revisit a negotiation that has flicked off and on for nearly a full year, dating back to previous GM Kevyn Adams.
“I have no idea. I wish I could tell you the future,” said Tuch, who expressed his love for the city and his team and who also understands his market value. “I’m going to do whatever is best for myself and my family.
“I don’t know how the talks are going to proceed. I don’t know what they are going to say. I don’t know the future. But my main priority is my family.”
Tuch enjoyed a dinner out with his fellow Sabres Tuesday night and was told by Kekäläinen at Wednesday morning’s exit meeting that the Sabres want to re-sign him.
Great.
But had the organization already met Tuch’s price — reportedly eight figures on a max-term deal, using L.A.’s Adrian Kempe as a comparable — he’d wouldn’t be where he is now: the most wanted UFA forward in a weak market and spiking-cap world, blessed with “endless options” (Tuch’s phrase) should he take this to Canada Day.
His disastrous second round be damned: zero goals, zero assists and a minus-8.
“I guarantee you it doesn’t change a single thing as far as how he’s viewed across the market,” Bartlett told ESPN Tuesday.
Fifty goals found the back of nets in the Sabres-Canadiens series. Tuch didn’t factor into any of them in a positive way.
“Everyone saw that. It’s super frustrating, because I thought my work ethic was there,” said Tuch, who refused to use his undisclosed ailments as an excuse. “Offensively, I felt I let my teammates down.”
No UFA forward produced more in the regular season than Tuch (33 goals and 66 points), who also registered a career-high plus-24 rating and was leaned on by Ruff in all situations.
That momentum carried into Round 1. Tuch scored four goals and seven points in Buffalo’s six-game victory over Boston.
Yes, the Sabres have a couple RFAs in need of a raise (Peyton Krebs and must-keep Zach Benson), but Kekäläinen has ample cap space and can ill afford to let talent and character walk for free.
This is the GM’s first off-season. Kekäläinen was already big-game hunting at the trade deadline (Colton Parayko? Robert Thomas? Matthew Knies?) and is expected to attempt to put his stamp on the roster now.
Adams’ initial offer to Tuch reportedly began with an 8. That’s not keeping him around. But is there a comfortable middle ground to be found with a guy who says he loves hockey so much that he wants to play till 40?
Tuch isn’t placing a timeline on his decision. He doesn’t sound like a guy who is sure where his head’s at, either.
Mentally, he’s still recovering from the end to focus on his next beginning.
“It’s been a tough couple days. Pretty emotional. Pretty heart-wrenching way to lose,” Tuch said. “We put our heart and soul into this season.
“We proved we were contenders.”
The Sabres will be less of one if they can’t retain Tuch, or at least find a reasonable replacement.
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