‘He’s going to be missed’: Tuch to leave Sabres, test free agent market

Buffalo Sabres general manager Jarmo Kekalainen is in the midst of his first offseason at the helm of the team, and he has already been quite busy.

The day after he dealt defenseman Bowen Byram and winger Jordan Greenway to the Chicago Blackhawks for the No. 4 and No. 45 overall picks in this year’s NHL Draft along with defenseman Louis Crevier, he spoke with reporters in Buffalo to share an update on where things stand in his pursuit to build up the roster.

Most notably, Kekalainen ruled out a contract extension that would bring veteran winger Alex Tuch back into the fold, telling reporters that he “will be missed,” and that Tuch will either hit the market on July 1 or be moved to a new club as part of a sign-and-trade.

Tuch, who sits in the No. 1 spot atop Daily Faceoff‘s top 50 pending UFA rankings from Matt Larkin, is coming off his third season with 30 or more goals in the past four years, as he put up 33 goals and 33 assists for 66 points in 79 regular season games.

The 30-year-old followed up that strong effort with a highly disappointing showing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, as he managed just 7 points in 13 games as the Sabres returned to postseason action for the first time since 2011.

Tuch just wrapped up a seven-year contract that carried a salary cap hit of $4.75 million, and he is set to cash in with a massive raise as one of the few impactful scoring forwards without a contract for next season.

The Syracuse native has 200 career goals and 248 assists for 448 points in 615 career games, and he came to Buffalo as part of their return for star center Jack Eichel after stints with the Vegas Golden Knights and Minnesota Wild, who chose him in the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft.