The 2026 NHL free-agent class looks especially light on elite talent, with one exception: forward Alex Tuch.
Among forwards, the Sabres' Buffalo-based winger sits in a tiny club: only a quartet of forwards, plus a half-dozen skaters overall, reached the 60-point mark or better in the prior campaign while also heading toward the July 1 date when unrestricted status opens up. The trio of forwards still in that bunch consists of Ovechkin (Alex), Malkin (Evgeni), and Mantha (Anthony) — and realistically Mantha alone serves as the other choice beyond Tuch for the 31 other franchises around the loop.
Born in New York's Syracuse, Tuch has spent his most recent five campaigns wearing Buffalo's colors, where he set a personal high of 43 assists and 36 goals for 79 points back in 2022-23. In team scoring he wound up third this past year, posting 33 goals and 33 helpers that totaled 66 points across 79 appearances, and he tacked on three assists plus four goals — seven points — in a baker's dozen of postseason contests on behalf of the upstart club.
Whether Tuch even arrives at that unrestricted status stands as the chief question mark, since Buffalo might attempt to lock him up again ahead of any competitor tabling its strongest proposal. From Buffalo's standpoint, the catch is affordability: this offseason they're projected to carry a mere $12.9 million beneath the cap, and as AFP Analytics figures it, the next deal Tuch signs is forecast at a seven-season pact paying $10.12 million each year.
In remarks made during the week, Tuch admitted he genuinely didn't know what lay ahead and wished he could foresee it, noting he intends to pursue whatever benefits both himself and his loved ones the most. How the conversations might play out, or what might be said, was beyond him, he allowed — but his family remains, above all, his top concern.
Buffalo's roster decisions don't stop at Tuch on the free-agent front, either. Without deals locked in for the year to come are Krebs (Peyton), Benson (Zach), Malenstyn (Beck), Dunne (Joshua), Pearson (Tanner), Schenn (Luke), Kesselring (Michael), and Stanley (Logan). Carrying restricted status and poised to reach the market, Benson is forecast to draw somewhere in the neighborhood of $5-7 million annually, the figure hinging on how long a term he inks.
Given that Tuch is presently bound for unrestricted action, the Capitals of Washington rank among the clubs that could pursue him. Bringing in a top-six skater up front this summer is on the wish list of GM Chris Patrick, who proved a year ago — by reeling in Nikolaj Ehlers the previous summer — that leaning on the free-agent market to land such a player doesn't scare him.
Per PuckPedia's figures, the Caps are slated this offseason to sit on $33.2 million of cap room, a cushion that would turn Tuch into an uncomplicated pickup even once the club tends to other possible matters with the likes of McMichael (Connor) and Ovechkin. Being a right winger, Tuch might fit seamlessly next to Strome (Dylan) plus Ovechkin within a forward trio should he ink in the nation's capital.
Back when he suited up for Vegas and its Golden Knights, Tuch featured in the celebrated Braden Holtby stop dubbed "The Save," which came in the second game of the 2018 final for the Stanley Cup; standing 6-foot-4 and tipping the scales at 220 pounds, he would inject still greater bulk into a Washington club that is already sizable. Penalty killing was another part of his game in Buffalo, where his shorthanded minutes per outing — clocking in at 2:26 — ranked him second among the team's forwards.