The Buffalo Sabres acquired Alex Tuch in the Jack Eichel Trade last season and when healthy, the winger exceeded expectations.
Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News wrote a recent article about Buffalo Sabres right-winger Alex Tuch looking to continue proving himself. Tuch, despite being a serviceable player with his former team, the Vegas Golden Knights, bounced around the first, second, and third lines.
He mainly played on the middle six, given his 15:56 of average total time on ice. That changed when he was healthy enough to play this past season, and he ended up playing most of the time on the Sabres first line, averaging 18:25 per contest.
Tuch also scored a career high in points and assists per game, at 0.76 and 0.52, respectively. He wasn’t, however, the most consistent scorer and tailed off, scoring just four points in the final 10 games. However, with Tage Thompson’s consistency, Victor Olofsson’s emergence, and Rasmus Dahlin scoring from the blue line, he wasn’t the only emerging star the Sabres relied on.
Expect more from Tuch in Year 2 with the Buffalo Sabres
In his article, Lysowski stated Tuch finally had a full summer to prepare for the season. During his time in Vegas, he was playing well into June since the Knights always found themselves in the playoffs. Last year, he missed six months because of shoulder surgery which kept him out from July until December.
Having built chemistry on the first two lines, plus a full summer to prepare, Tuch is poised for a record-setting season, or a record-setting season in terms of career-bests. Two weeks ago, I wrote a slideshow listing bold predictions for each Sabre aged 25 to 29, and in Tuch’s prediction, I stated he will hit a career-high in points per game.
That prediction stated he would see ice time in between 70 and 80 games, warranting 63 to 74 total points. I also said his goals would increase to 0.35 per game, and assists to 0.65 per contest. Of course, these were bold predictions, so how bold did I go?
Realistically, I can definitely see that happening, but for these more logical predictions, I want to go with a lower end – 0.8 points per game, 0.3 goals per game, and 0.5 assists per game, across a 70 to 80-game slate.
This equals 56 points at the lower end, and 64 at the higher end. At 0.3 goals per game, we are looking at a range of 21 to 24, with between 35 and 40 assists. Overall, this would be vast improvement from last season, even if Tuch played well in 2021-22.
Article Source: Alex Tuch motivated to ‘prove himself,’ take Sabres to new heights by Lance Lysowski
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)