Alex Tuch is confident the Buffalo Sabres will eventually hit their stride after an uneven start to the 2026-27 NHL season — "they're going to have a lot of success" — but there's one thing that he does worry about when it comes to his former team: the poker games.
Tuch, who joined the Washington Capitals as part of a sign-and-trade deal in late June, spoke with Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic about his first game against the Sabres since the move on Saturday night, and his concerns about Peyton Krebs as the head of the poker table.
"I'm just worried about who the bookkeeper is in poker," Tuch told Fairburn. "I know it's Krebsie. I just worry about that, Krebsie with the bookkeeping."
Poker is a big deal in the Sabres locker room.
In January, Buffalo winger Josh Doan was asked about the spirited card games during an appearance on the 32 Thoughts podcast, and made his choice for the best player.
"I think right now, honestly, Ryan McLeod might be the leader," Doan said. "It might even go in the opposite direction of you can't tell if he's being serious or not, and it gets guys in trouble quite a bit. I think it's his strength at the poker table. You don't know for sure if he has it. Nine times out of 10 he does but then the one time you do fold he doesn't, and it's quite frustrating."
He also noted Krebs was a frequent target of teammate banter.
"Krebsie plays the most by-the-book poker," Doan said. "I think guys give him a hard time for that. He'll play by how you should play."
Based on the hard-nosed, get-under-your-skin style of hockey Krebs plays on the ice, perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise he's the same way at the poker table.
Are the Sabres having seller's remorse on Alex Tuch?
Buffalo's decision to move on from Tuch was understandable. The team's front office entered the offseason facing a little bit of a salary-cap crunch, and paying the 6-foot-4 power forward $10.5 million per season until his late 30s wasn't appetizing.
Yet, there's no doubt the Sabres are sorely missing his on-ice contributions.
Tuch impacted every phase of the game. He was a first-line player at 5-on-5, and he held important responsibilities on both the power play and the penalty kill. Those special-teams units are struggling mightily without his involvement early in the new campaign.
The 30-year-old winger was also an important voice in the Buffalo locker room, helping a young roster turn the corner to become a playoff team last season. It was the franchise's first postseason appearance in 15 years.
Yes, the Sabres have a lot of talented forwards still on the rise and some, including Jack Quinn, are already starting to showcase significant improvement this season. Nobody was capable of filling the wide-ranging role Tuch occupied for the past five years, though.
Perhaps eventually players like Doan, Krebs, Zach Benson, Noah Ostlund, Jiri Kulich and Konsta Helenius will be able to handle those demands in the aggregate. It's going to take time. That was understood the moment Tuch walked out the door.
Pressure is already starting to build in Buffalo, though. The Blue and Gold have yet to find top form and, although they've battled to maintain a .500 record (4-4-2), they still sit at the bottom of the highly competitive Atlantic Division standings.
As a result, the criticisms about letting Tuch leave are starting to grow louder, despite the fact it was more of a long-term decision and these are short-term problems. Or at least the Sabres hope they are.
The Sabres and Capitals are set for a 7 p.m. ET faceoff Saturday night at Capital One Arena in the nation's capital.
Tuch's first game back in Buffalo is scheduled for March 18.
Add us as a preferred source on Google