The Buffalo Sabres score of the summer, if they get it right, is not a flashy signing. It is keeping Alex Tuch in Buffalo before the NHL free-agent class opens on July 1.
Matthew Fairburn’s view was direct: the Sabres’ top priority should be keeping their big-ticket free agent in Buffalo. Tuch has been an important leader for the Sabres and has proven to be a playoff performer, which is why the case for re-signing him is bigger than sentiment. If he is willing to take a reasonable contract below $10 million AAV, the Sabres should keep him around.
The ask came as part of a broader offseason exercise in which The Athletic had its NHL staff name one pending unrestricted free agent each team should target this summer. In that frame, Tuch is presented as part of the 2026 UFA class, with Buffalo facing a simple but consequential decision: hold onto a player who matters in the room and has shown he can perform when the games are at their most demanding, or risk watching him reach the market on July 1.
The tension in the Sabres’ position is that this is not an abstract roster question. Tuch is already being valued for qualities teams spend years trying to find — leadership, experience and a record of playoff production. At the same time, the price still has to make sense. Fairburn’s line draws that boundary clearly: a deal below $10 million AAV is reasonable, but the Sabres would be wise not to push the number so high that the fit starts to break.
That is what makes this summer so important for Buffalo. The Sabres are not being asked to guess whether Tuch can help them. They already know that. The choice now is whether they act on that knowledge before the market opens and the leverage shifts away from them.
