Where’s the contract extension between Alex Tuch and the Buffalo Sabres?

Where’s the contract extension between Alex Tuch and the Buffalo Sabres?

It’s August 8th. No Alex Tuck extension. More than a month after he was eligible to sign one. Should we be worried? Talk about it coming up on Locked on Sabres. [Music] You’re Locked on Sabres, your daily podcast on the Buffalo Sabres, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. What is up everybody and welcome in to this Friday edition of the Locked on Sabers podcast. Thanks for making us your first listen every day. We are free and available wherever you get your podcast. You can check us out wherever you get your podcast. You can watch us on YouTube. You can also be a part of our Locked Oners text club which is always fun. You can head over to joinsubtex.com/lockdownsabers to sign up for that if you would like. See, this episode of Locked On Sabers is presented by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. Sneaky Joe DBassi here on a Friday in August. We’re talking a little bit about Alex Tuck today and where the contract extension is and when we should be worried if we’re not worried already. Spoiler alert, I’m not that worried, but it’s a little interesting to me that we don’t have a deal more than a month after he’s eligible to sign one. And that might be the biggest news item to track now that the bulum trade idea kind of seems like that’s kind of not happening at this point in time. So we’ll get into that today on the show. And also um there’s a really good Sabres if if you are missing hockey and you’re looking for you know some good video some a little watch later if you got 15 minutes to kill a little bit later on. There’s a really good video on Zack Benson that I want to tell you about a little bit later on as I will take every opportunity to talk about Zack Benson’s game. Um, and I’ll do that a little bit later on on today’s show. As always, you want to follow us on Twitter, lockdowns there. I’m on Twitter at Sneaky Joe Sports. A lot of Bills talk this time of year, but of course some Sabres as well. And then on Blue Sky, Sneaky Joe as well. Sneaky Joe sports on Blue Sky. So, let’s get right into it. Alex Tuck, it’s August 8th. Not worried that much, but a little interesting to me. So, I got a text question about this the other day. thought it’d be good to talk about it on the show because I said like, “Hey, sign up for the text club because news breaks and we give it to you and you know you if you’re not, you know, all over Twitter and something happens or there’s a rumor one way or another, we’ll bring that to you.” Um, in fact, actually before I get all the way in on the tuck thing, because what I was what I was going to say is that the Alex Tuck contract would be the number one news item that could happen between now and the start of the season, other than a big massive trade, but I’m not really anticipating that right now. Before we do get all the way in on the tuck thing, couple of news items that I want to talk about. Talking with Pete Guelli, the Bills and Sabers COO at Bills Training Camp. Me and Jeremy White had him on our morning show on WGR on uh Thursday and we talked a lot about, you know, the Bills and the new stadium and, you know, camp there at St. John Fischer and got into a little bit of hockey talk with him and a couple of things that I want to bring here to the show if you missed it. One is the arena lease. We did a show on that a couple months ago. It’s been a date, an an October date to keep an eye on what’s going to happen with the arena. What Pete said is there’s a little bit of a misnomer out there. The lease at the arena at Key Bank Center does not expire in October. In October, there is a potential out for the Sabres. If they wanted to opt out of the lease, they could. It does not sound like that is probably going to happen. And I wouldn’t definitively say it definitely won’t because I think right now the team, the county, the city, the state are all talking about what’s next for the arena. What is the long-term plan for the arena? And the seats seem to be the top of the list for that. Some other things they could do to modernize the arena. As Pete told us, it is the longest standing arena in the NHL that has not had a major renovation. As the arena opened in the late 90s, of course, it has never had a major renovation. And it sounds like that is something the team would like to do or at the very least continue to chip away at things. The new roof and the jumbotron have already happened. The the seats would be next. Maybe the concourses after that. So, the arena is on the mind for the team. long term. What are we doing to build take this building up? And I think um they’re going to want cooperation from the city and the county on that. But that’s a conversation probably for the fall when we get news about what that looks like because all those conversations between now and then are going to be obviously behind closed doors and I don’t think you’re going to get many updates about it. But that was one update that we did get on that front. Other things that we got into relating to the Buffalo Sabres, just kind of a a throwaway line that Pete mentioned. I asked him like, you know, ar uh jersey-wise we’re in good shape, right? And he said definitely PE fans love the black and red fans love the home and away outfits and this year you’re going to have 15 black and red games at home. Good number, healthy number. It’s been about what they’ve done the last couple of years as well. Pete did mention that they are looking at something new jersey-wise. Um, and there was nothing he could disclose on that at this point in time, but that they were they were broaching the subject. They were looking at the ideas for maybe something else. Um, sounds to me like that could be an addition to what they already have. maybe another alternate jersey. If you’re going to bring in a fourth uniform, there’s only really a couple of ways I think you could go with that. There’s really not much left in terms of nostalgia, right? Like they could bring the slug back. They could do that. I saw a jersey a slug jersey the other day and I’ve never been a fan of that logo, but when I see it, it makes me feel positive I thoughts because they were good when they wore the slug. I mean, relatively. Um, so they could do that. They could bring the slug back. They could do the red jersey. I guess they the the red crossing swords uniform. They did that with reverse retro a couple of years ago, but it was white. Wasn’t the same. Um, clearly they also could do something brand new. And if I had to guess, this one would be pure speculation for me. Um, I would predict they would do something brand new before they would do the slug or something like that. Maybe something similar to the Buffalo Bison’s throwback they had for the 40th anniversary season in 2011. Maybe just bring that back. Everyone really liked that jersey and that one didn’t last very long. Um so that’s an idea as well. But keep an eye on jersey stuff. Probably nothing relatively soon on that front, but um it’s in the cooker or it’s it’s something that’s being talked about. Maybe even it being in the cooker is putting it too strongly. And then the other thing, and this probably the biggest news item that we had um from Pete was that they have talked to Gary Bman and the National Hockey League about getting an outdoor game at the new Bill Stadium in probably 2028, which would line up with it being the 20th anniversary of the Winter Classic. And I had assumed all along that that would be in the works. Why wouldn’t you want to do that, right? You’re trying to bring more events to to Orchard Park to that new stadium. Why not an outdoor hockey game? They have not come back since 2008. And the thing that Pete said though is that this time it likely would not be a Winter Classic. That’d be tougher scheduling. The Bills are still playing in the regular season at that point in time or if the playoffs the playoffs usually have not started by then, but that’s right around playoff time. Um, so for scheduling purposes, it might be a little tougher to line up for a New Year’s Day Winter Classic. Stadium Series might be more likely. So, that sounds like something that is maybe even likely at this point that the Sabres would host a Stadium Series game in 2028 at the new um the new Bill Stadium. So, that’s something to keep an eye on as well. And that was the the extent of really what we got into hockey-wise uh with Pete. You can check that out at WGR’s website and on the app there if you’re uh if you want more on our conversation with him. So anyways, we did not get into Alex talk with Pete. He’s more on the business end of course. And I was talking about this the other day with our text one of our texters that the Alex Tuck extension is probably next. That’s the next big thing to track. If I am okay in assuming that trade speculation might end up being a waste of time between now and the start of the year, I think this is their team. So, Tuck, Alex Tuck. Now, a couple of things I want to get into on Alex Tuck. One, what the extension should look like. Two, if it’s strange that we’ve reached this point in the year when other guys have signed their extensions. and thinking back and recalling what Tuck said at the end of the season about his extension. Get into all that coming up here on the Lockdown Sabres podcast. Today’s episode of Lockdown Sabres is presented by Game Time. 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Um, if you’re tired of endless scrolling to find the best deal, Game Time Zone Deals will pick the best seats for your section for you. So, take that guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account. Redeem code locked on NHL for $20 off. Download the Game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Sneaky Jody Biosi back here on the Lockdown Sabres podcast. Where is the Alex Tuck extension? July 1st. He was eligible. The team was eligible to talk to the agent. The team was eligible to sign him. What is going to happen here? And should we be worried? My simple answer on that question is I’m not worried now. I’m also not not worried because I was wondering a lot, hey, is this going to be one of those where we’re wondering if he’s willing to stay here long term, if he’s happy here, if he wants to stay long term, and all that’s going to be for nothing because on uh noon 12:01 July 1st, we’re going to have an extension done between Alex Tuck and the Buffalo Sabres. Well, that did not happen. and 38 39 days have passed and we still do not have an extension. We also don’t really even have any noise about an extension with Alex Tuck. Now, they’re not holding press conferences. They’re not around the building, right? I mean, Tuck’s around. He lives here, but we do not have any sort of rumor mill about this. Dave Pagnota, fourth period, I saw the other day, like is the closest thing that we’ve gotten. He mentioned that they’ve had preliminary conversations. There’s interest on both sides. Um, listen, Kevin Adams did say Alex Tuck wants to be a Buffalo Saber. There is that Alex Tuck has been, you know, a little more koi about it. He got the question at the end of the season press conference and remembering back to that and I watched it before recording here just to freshen up on it. He said that it’s not something he thought about at all during the season. That he does want he does love Buffalo. He’s loved his time here. That’s the that’s the he did put it in the past tense, but whatever. He put he wants to win here. He said he wants to win here. That’s good. You want to at least get that in if you are being trying to be truthful that you want to stay here. But he also threw in a couple of lines to his answer that could leave the door cracked open to uh maybe you’re not all the way in on wanting to stay here. And if you are not all the way in, what does a guy say in a press conference to say, “Yeah, I’m not going to tell you I don’t I want to leave.” So, this is my way of not, you know, of getting through this answer. One without, you know, lying to you or also giving too much away. One thing he’d say is, “I leave that to my agent.” You know, that that’s all in my agent’s department. I let him handle that. And that’s what Alex Tuck said. The other thing he threw in was, “I haven’t talked to my wife about it yet.” Which, you know, it’s fine. That’s, you know, something he will do and should do, probably has done now. Um, but that when you throw that into the answer, it’s like, “Guys, I haven’t even thought about it.” No, not not at all. Not for a second. Which I think, you know, any athlete when they say that is generally lying a little bit. I think everyone probably thinks about it a little bit and has an idea of what they want to do long term, even if they haven’t got it got into it, you know, in the nitty-gritty fully. Um, so I don’t know. I I didn’t love that part of it that you had the combo of I haven’t even talked to my wife about it yet and I let my agent handle that side of it. I’m not saying he’s lying. I still think at this point that he probably ends up signing and that he does lock up long term with the Buffalo Sabres. Um the connection point that he has to the franchise. Um the importance that he is to the group and how much the Sabres would value him. I don’t think I don’t think the Sabres would be outbid on Alex Tuck. So, if it’s about money and you know, for Tuck, I might bet it would be more about winning if he were to leave than it would be to be about money. Um, because I don’t and I also don’t think the Sabres would be outbid. I think they hold Alex Tuck in an incredibly high regard. Um, and this is one where I don’t think they would, you know, they would try to they would try to, you know, nickel and dime them. So, um, it’s just going to come down to whether he want thinks that they can win here. He said he wants to win. He’s tasted the Stanley Cup final. He’s been there. His former teammates won. And I don’t know how he feels about that. I know how I would feel about it. It would motivate me a lot. And it would also be a little bitter. I’d be a little bitter about it. Like that should be me. That should be me. I should have won. And I was on that team and I was close. He’s the guy who got robbed by Braden Holi in in Washington um against the Capitals. He that that might haunt him. I don’t know. Um, again, not everyone’s the same. And if that is his number one motivating driving force, then he could leave. Totally. He could totally leave. Um, and I think there’s nothing in the first 38 days of his eligibility to sign an extension that would say to me, well, he couldn’t leave. He he could definitely leave. Now, what the extension should look like to me, the Sabres should be coming at him with everything they got, like seven, eight-year deal, long-term extension. And to me, I’m not trying to sign him to a hometown discount. By the way, the salary cap, not even really worried about it. Next season when the extension would kick in, the Buffalo Sabres have, if 104 million is the cap limit, which is what the projection is, that’s what Puck Pedia has up. If 104 million is the salary cap, the Sabres as of right now will have $24 million in cap space with just talk the sign and then Payton Krebs, that’ll be nothing. Beck Malenstein, hopefully you don’t even redo that one. Zack Benson, which I don’t think it’ll be a ton. Josh Don, shouldn’t be a ton. Michael Kessler, maybe. Maybe a good amount. I’d love for that. Um, and Jacob Bryson, which whatever. So, you could give Tuck eight $9 million a year very easily. I think nine is more appropriate for what that contract should look like, and I think they should do it. I’m not worried about him being 30 years old and giving him a long-term extension. You want to be a good team, you got to listen. You want to be a good team, you got to be willing to give a guy two, three years of a bad contract at the end of their careers in order to get five years of the good of the good. And that’s what I would be doing with Tuck. Also, he’s a phenomenal skater, one of the best in the league. He’s incredibly fast. Uh he hasn’t taken a lot of wear and tear in terms of big injuries. So to me, he’s the type of player that I I would be very surprised if he is not still a useful player uh going into his mid30s. So I’d be in on that and I think he’s worth the eight the eight and a half$9 million that I would think he All right, Alex Tuck, don’t be worried yet. I didn’t really even answer the the main question here, which I think is when should you be worried? If they play a game this year in the regular season with Alex Tuck going on the final year of his contract and he has not signed. If opening night is taking place and he has not signed a contract, I’m worried. That’s my That’s for me. For me, I think that’s the appropriate time to be worried. You’re playing games now and he’s not signed. Worried. There’s no reason to me if he is all in on staying. There’s no reason that the contract shouldn’t be done before the start of the year, if not before training camp. So, they get to training camp, that should be the first question he gets. Hey, where’s the contract? What what’s your part of this? What’s your end of this? What’s your opinion on it? Um, if they get to night one and he hasn’t signed, I’m worried. But right now, I’m not yet. When we come back, it’s a really good Zack Benson video I got highly recommend on YouTube. We’ll get to that when we come back. Today’s episode of the Lockdown Sabres podcast presented by FanDuel Sportsbook summer sports in full swing. Premier League is coming. We are one week away from the Liverpool start. Got to get in on that. So whether you’re about soccer, maybe uh baseball under the lights, golf on the green, you got the RDER Cup coming in uh in a little while here. FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting. And if if you’re already following all the action, you know, why not make it a little bit more more uh thrilling? Uh with FanDuel, you got a bunch of you could do, you know, player props. Um you could do a line on the game itself, whether you want a total on the game. Um check it out on FanDuel, the best matchups. You got some prime time sports going on on the weekends that always are available for that. Same game parlays, watching a bet ride in the ninth inning. FanDuel makes it feel like you are a part of the action. New to FanDuel, new customers can bet just $5 right now. Get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. So, open the FanDuel app today or visit fanuel.com to get started. Sneaky Jody Biosi back here on the Locked Sabres podcast. Uh, I’ve said this a lot. I love watching Zack Benson play. He’s my favorite player to analyze. Um, and I really hope he takes a big step forward because I would love for him to be a integral part of this team. I think he’s got that in him and I also want him to be a saber for forever, honestly. Um, and if he never takes that big step, I mean, it’s just going to be more likely that, you know, that doesn’t happen. So, that being said, love Demetri Filipovic, the PDO hockey, the PDIO cast, and they put out a lot of good stuff, a lot of data driven stuff, a lot of film stuff as well. The hockey PDIO cast, they got their own YouTube channel. Actually, I’ll link it in the description here. Um, great film breakdown fil just film on Zack Benson. If you’re looking for a good hockey watch, this is just 18 minutes of Zack Benson. And one thing that you don’t always get from just a highlight reel is the stuff that Benson is good at, which is outthinking the opponent. you know, being one step ahead, the defensive part of his game, which is obviously very valuable. I try to, you know, show that to our listeners through some of the advanced numbers that try to evaluate defense and I’ll try to pick apart a play once in a while as well. Um, but it’s sometimes can be tough. And I thought this video, it’s 18 minutes, the last four minutes especially, that is all about his steals and his puck pressure. it just just watching him away from the puck because in this video you’re you’re your eyes are going to him obviously naturally because you know the video is about him and you’re able to really pick up on how how much quicker he is to plays than his opponent. I mean he embarrasses defenseman in this video. So I would highly recommend it. Um he is and on those last four minutes there was a player that he reminds me of at least in the steels and the puck pressure that I want to throw out there. I think there’s obviously a lot of differences in their games but the guy he reminds me of I’m watching him steal the puck be a step ahead pickpocketing guys. I’m like this is Pavl Datsuk I’m watching this is Pavl Datsuk. He and Pavo Datsuk was a three-time Selky winner. Now he was a center and Zack Benson is not. and Datsuk. The hands, no one will ever compete with the hands of Pavo Datsuk. Um, Benson’s got really nice hands and he’s got some really clever creative plays that are Datsukian offensively, too, but no, not, you know, not on a consistent basis. Although, to be fair, like I don’t remember really the beginning of Datsuk’s career. And again, he’s a center, Ben’s the winger, and that’s a big difference. But that’s 2001 to 2003, the first two seasons of Datuk’s career. I’m I’m six, seven years old. like I don’t really remember him that much at that time. He had 35 points in year number one and 51 points in year number two. 23 goals combined in the two seasons. He was older, 23, 24 years old, but he really wasn’t an impact player in his first two seasons. And then year three, there was the jump. And there’s a lot of instances of that, of course, which is why you should still be open to Zack Benson being a very good offensive player. But some of those defensive plays really remind me of Datsuk. And it’s man, that’s a guy that if he could become even 80% of the player that Datsuk was from a different position, uh, that would be a home run, I think. Uh, I mean, that’s a Hall of Famer, so of course. So, what I definitely check it out the the the small parts of Benson’s game, the little plays he makes. The other thing I noticed in this in this video, Jack Quinn should have had a lot more goals than he did last year. There are a lot of plays here, Benson playing with Jack Quinn, where he is like Quinn is the shooter on the line and Benson doesn’t have the shot right now and maybe he never will, but he definitely doesn’t have it now. So Benson is opting to give the puck to Quinn. He’s getting into these scoring opportunities. He’s creating this chaos for the defensive team and everybody’s running around which means he’s often open, his teammates are often open and if he’s got if he’s open and another guy’s open, he’s often going to give it to the other guy and often there was Jack Quinn and like none of the plays I saw ended up being goals. The plays that Ta was involved in end up being goals, but none of the ones that Quinn were in. So that that kind of makes me really want to see him play with Tae at the beginning of next season because there are all these little plays that can be created into goals and you know with Taage they more often will actually become that. Um so check it out. I’ll definitely recom definitely recommend it. I think if you even just search Zack Benson on YouTube you’ll find it but I’ll link it too. That’s going to do it for us though today here on the Locked On Sabres podcast. We will talk next week. Um, we’ll start going player by player on the roster and looking back on their last season, looking ahead to next season as well. There’s a lot to get to and uh, we’ll do that next week. So, thanks for listening throughout this week. You want more hockey talk, check out Locked on NHL, all the biggest stories in the NHL all week long. You can check them out wherever you get your podcast. Have a good weekend. Talk to you next week here on the Lockdown Savers podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

It’s been over a month since Alex Tuch was eligible to sign a contract extension with the Buffalo Sabres, and so far… no deal. Should we be worried no deal has been struck? At what point should we be?

Sneaky Joe goes through Tuch’s past comments about a deal, what he’s worth to the Sabres, and what could be motivating him going forward.

Plus, a new comparison for Zach Benson.

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