BUFFALO – In his first days on the job, Sabres general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said he plans to “take charge” of contract negotiations with winger Alex Tuch’s representatives.
Tuch, one of former GM Kevyn Adams’ biggest trade acquisitions, expressed his desire earlier this season to sign an extension with the Sabres.
But has another difficult campaign changed Tuch’s mind? The Baldwinsville native can become an unrestricted free agent following the season.
“It always takes two parties to agree on a number that both feel that it’s reasonable, and not just for today, but moving forward, what you have to build with your team,” Kekalainen said Tuesday, a day after replacing Adams. “Alex is a really good hockey player.
“We appreciate him, we like him, we want to get him signed. I think that’s been clear the whole time. Now we just have to agree on a number that works for both sides.”
Tuch’s price tag has shot up over the past several months because the salary cap increase has created a new market. The Sabres’ top all-around forward might be worth around $10 million per season.
The Sabres did not practice Monday or Tuesday, so Tuch, 29, hasn’t addressed his future to the media since Adams was fired.
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Don’t be surprised if the Sabres, who have carried three goalies all season, get rid of one in the near future.
Kekalainen said “we’re probably to a point where we’re going to have to start making decisions to get down to a two-goalie rotation”
Right now, rookie Colten Ellis is in concussion protocol. Alex Lyon has recently been handling the starting duties and been backed up by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
The Sabres claimed Ellis off waivers before the season because Luukkonen had a lower-body injury.
“I think we’ve all talked about it, pretty much every day, that it’s not the ideal situation to have three for the workload they get in practice, for the rotation, the amount of games they get if there’s three goalies,” Kekalainen said during his introductory news conference in KeyBank Center. “But we also picked up Ellis for a reason, because we felt that there was upside there to become a real good NHL goalie. We had a little bit of an injury situation back then that we needed to protect ourselves depth-wise.”
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Kekalainen announced Monday on Instagram his father, Kari, had died at age 82 following a long illness.
The GM said he just returned from Finland.
“This is quite a roller coaster of emotions for me,” he said.
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The Sabres on Tuesday sent rookie winger Isak Rosen back to the Rochester Americans.