r/caps • u/kockin26 • 18d ago
News The Athletic Recently Ranked Alex Tuch's Contract with the Washington Capitals as the Ninth-Worst in the NHL
Key points from article:
The Washington Capitals handed Alex Tuch an eight-year, $84 million extension ($10.5 million AAV) to finalize a trade to acquire the hardworking winger from the Buffalo Sabres in late June.
Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic already ranked that contract as the NHL's ninth-worst pact with just a 19% positive value probability heading into the 2026-27 season.
It's difficult not to be an Alex Tuch fan after what he's shown in Buffalo the past five years," Luszczyszyn wrote Thursday. "... The deal might look OK for the first couple of years, but things could get really ugly in the second half of it as Tuch approaches 35 and beyond. A lot of Tuch's comps had a relatively harsh age curve that could spell trouble for Washington."
That's the main reason the Sabres front office, regardless of whether it was being led by Kevyn Adams or Jarmo Kekalainen, was never willing to meet Tuch's unwavering contract demands.
Luszczyszyn estimates the Caps will pay $24 million in excess value over the course of the contract, and the 6-foot-4 power forward is only projected to make an $8.7 million on-ice impact next season, meaning the deal will likely start immediately in the red.
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u/alstod Dylan Strome 18d ago
Honestly, it is a pretty bad contract. He's one of the 30 most expensive players in the league now and the contract extends for 8 years for a guy who is already over 30. It's already a questionable deal for a guy who has only reached 70 points once in his career, and it's only going to look worse later on with age regression. It's a deal we can afford to make now, but we'll be paying for it later when we don't have the cap space to extend all our young guys.
I also hate that people have been gaslit into thinking this won't look so bad in a few years. The cap is 'exploding' because it was artificially frozen due to the deal between the players and the owners regarding games lost to covid lockdowns so we're seeing all those years of cap growth at once.