The Buffalo Sabres have a perfect opportunity to get a major piece of business done during the Olympic break.
While there’s a roster freeze in effect, the freeze does not preclude teams from signing and extending players currently on the roster. As insider Chris Johnston noted in a February 4 piece in The Athletic, players can sign contract extensions during the break.
That statement should knock on Jarmo Kekalainen’s door like a sledgehammer.
The Sabres have one major impending UFA in Alex Tuch. While Tuch landed in the latest iteration of Johnston’s trade board, there’s no way the Sabres are trading him now.
Unless a Tuch trade brought back someone like Connor McDavid or Nathan MacKinnon, the Sabres would be better off holding onto Tuch now. Kekalainen’s position has been not to fix anything that isn’t broken.
In that vein, the Sabres are better off working towards an extension with Tuch. Johnston made a key point about why now is a perfect time for extensions. In particular, Johnston drilled down on how this break allows in-season negotiations to occur without them becoming a distraction for the player and the team.
“In-season negotiations can be tricky to navigate on both sides of the table because of their potential to create distractions. However, the typical distractions will be removed over the next couple of weeks, which is why we should expect to see some new contracts get signed.”
Could one of those signings be Tuch? Sabres fans sure hope that can happen. While Kekalainen will be at the Olympics as part of Team Finland’s staff, he might find some time to talk to Tuch’s people and get a deal in place.
Sabres and Tuch could pick up stalled talk during Olympics
The prevailing chatter regarding Tuch and the Sabres has been the stalled extension talks. Johnston highlighted how there hasn’t been “much action” regarding a Tuch extension.
Another notable insider, Elliotte Friedman, offered a little more encouragement. Friedman declared that despite the glacial pace of negotiations, the two sides have maintained ongoing communication.
That situation could prime talks in the coming weeks. The lack of games removes the element of distraction, allowing Tuch’s people to hammer out a solid offer for the Sabres to mull on.
But there’s one other thing that will factor in now that likely didn’t register before. The Sabres are a playoff team now. They’re firmly challenging for one of the top three spots in the Atlantic Division.
As such, wouldn’t the prospect of being part of a winning team entice Tuch to stay? Similarly, wouldn’t keeping one of the team’s best players, amid a new winning era, be something the club values?
It’s also worth speculating that, if the Olympic break did not occur, the negotiations would likely stall until after the end of the season. By then, it might be too late to work anything out.
Ultimately, the timing of the Olympic break could not have been more perfect for this situation to find a natural resolution.
By the same token, if the Sabres and Tuch realize there is no middle ground anywhere, the club would have time to trade Tuch before the March 6 deadline. That, of course, is a conversation for another day.