BUFFALO, N.Y. — When Alex Tuch got traded from the Vegas Golden Knights to the Buffalo Sabres, he met the change of scenery with enthusiasm. A lifelong Sabres fan from Syracuse, N.Y., Tuch was the perfect person to begin the process of changing Buffalo’s hockey culture. He had playoff experience and was coming from the glamour of Las Vegas but was all-in on helping the Sabres climb out of the NHL’s basement and back into relevancy.
But the reality of that process the last three seasons has been difficult. The Sabres still haven’t qualified for the playoffs. Tuch is on his second coach in Buffalo. And he’s now wrapped up in his second seven-game losing streak in the last three seasons. This one has come with its own challenges. The home crowd has booed the team in three of the last four games. They chanted, “Fire Kevyn!” after general manager Kevyn Adams had a news conference on Friday in which he lamented that Buffalo is not “a destination city” and later said, “We don’t have palm trees. We have taxes.” That, along with fans bringing inflatable palm trees to the arena, made the Sabres a leaguewide punchline again. It’s the type of outside noise Tuch might not have been great at dealing with when he was younger. Now Tuch is a husband, the father of a 1-year-old boy and the alternate captain of this team. Those responsibilities in life and in hockey have made him better equipped to handle moments like this one.
“The longer you’re in the league the more noise you see, the more media you’re a part of. Good stories, bad stories, everything like that,” Tuch said. “You realize that you can’t take it for granted. My son just turned 1. We had his party on Sunday. My family was out there. My wife’s family was out there. Some of the team came over. It makes you appreciate. Yesterday, I FaceTimed a boy who is 11 years old and lives about three streets away from my parents. They just found a brain tumor and he’s probably being operated on as we speak. It really puts into perspective, you know what? Even in your worst of times, it could be a lot worse. You have to get better each day but you also have to enjoy the process and realize how lucky you are to be in the position you are.”
Tuch is 28 and has played for three NHL teams. His view of life and hockey is a lot different than it was when he was 22. Maybe that’s why he’s one of the few Buffalo players consistently pulling his weight. He has 24 points in 28 games, leads the team with 15 takeaways and is second in the NHL with three short-handed goals.
The Sabres could use more players in Tuch’s age range; Buffalo has 11 players who are 24 or younger, and the majority of them are underachieving. Jack Quinn has been a healthy scratch. Dylan Cozens, who already has a long-term contract, is scoring far below the pace he achieved two seasons ago. Owen Power is putting up points but is a work in progress in the defensive zone. JJ Peterka has been a streaky scorer with one goal in his last 12 games. Mattias Samuelsson is set to return from a lengthy injury but had played his way out of the lineup before that. Those players represent a big chunk of the core Adams has banked on. The Sabres still have the youngest average age of any team in the NHL. Lindy Ruff has repeatedly brought up that his team needs to handle pressure better. Some of that is a product of youth. Regardless of how many NHL games these young players have played, they still haven’t fully matured emotionally or physically. Adams said last week that when you go young the way the Sabres have, “You’re going to have to give players the opportunity to battle through some of the ups and downs.”
That puts even more pressure on older players like Tuch, Tage Thompson and Jason Zucker to pull the team out of this losing streak. Tuch said he thinks the Sabres have been nervous at times and too often playing like they’re “afraid to lose.” Thompson said something similar after the Sabres’ most recent game, a 6-5 shootout loss to the Red Wings in which the team blew a two-goal third-period lead. That’s why Tuch invoked the words of his old coach Don Granato.
“We have to go out there and be fearless,” Tuch said. “That’s something we’re going to do as a group moving forward.”
Ruff has singled out players like Cozens and Thompson for not executing the defensive zone system the way they should be 20-plus games into the season. He said if they can’t handle the defensive responsibility of center, he will move them to the wing. He’s also had one-on-one meetings to simplify some of the reads in the system to make things easier. He wants the team to play faster.
Because so few teams have separated themselves in the Eastern Conference, the Sabres’ seven-game losing streak hasn’t completely buried their playoff chances. They have a 12 percent chance to qualify for the playoffs, according to The Athletic’s model. That’s 12th of the 16 teams in the Eastern Conference. Their points percentage is tied for second worst in the conference. The team’s lack of progress from last season is alarming and they haven’t done enough to convince anyone they’re capable of going on the type of run that will get them to the playoffs. Yet a win over the Rangers on Wednesday would put the Sabres within two points of a wild-card spot and within one point of the Rangers in the playoff race. A loss and a Canadiens win on Thursday, however, would put the Sabres in last place in the conference.
“I woke up today and looked at the standings and shoot, we’re three points out,” Tuch said. “We’re not in a good spot, but we’re not in a bad spot by any means. We’re going to be better. But we lost seven in a row and we’re only three points out. That’s huge I think. We’re now playing a team we’re chasing for wild card two and we can get within a point of them and some other teams. It’s a big one. We have to keep what happened during this losing streak in the back of our mind and remember this feeling and then move on and be better.
“We know we have to be better. We don’t need you guys telling us or the fans telling us or even the coaches telling us we have to be better. We know within that locker room that we have to be better. Me, personally, I know I have to be a lot better. I know a lot of guys believe that.”
Tuch knows that Adams’ comments about Buffalo not being a destination city have stirred up a lot of media reactions and some strong emotions in the fan base. He also knows the players have the ability to write a different story.
“Wherever you are, wherever you’re playing, wherever you’re living … I know there’s been a lot of buzz with it,” Tuch said. “But honestly, players will come to winning cultures and winning organizations. I know Kevyn touched on it. We haven’t earned that right to hunt for a big free agent who wants to win and hunt for a Cup. It’s the guys in the locker room who have to make a choice. Do we want to be an OK hockey team or do we want to be a great hockey team? It starts with us. It doesn’t start with who we bring into the locker room. We’ve had some really good additions this year who have stepped up and played well in tough times. We have to rely on some of those guys and they are big pieces moving forward. I know there’s a lot of stuff that’s outside noise. We just can’t worry about it. We have to go out and worry about yourself, worry about the team that’s in this locker room. We know we have the pieces in and have what it takes to win in that locker room. That’s all we focus on and care about right now, outside noise aside.”
(Photo: Ryan Sun / Imagn Images)
