Oilers listed as top 2 teams to acquire star forward as contract talks break down
Photo credit: Timothy T. Ludwig - Imagn Images
One of the NHL's top free agents next year continues to garner interest from the Edmonton Oilers, according to several reports.
Declining Sabres team could lose star forward by trade-deadline
David Pagnotta, on a recent episode of Daily Faceoff Live said that Alex Tuch could be an option for Edmonton if the Buffalo Sabres fall out of the playoff race.
Alex Tuch is in the final year of his contract with the Sabres, at a cap hit of $4.75M, and with a 5-team no-trade list.
«If this team doesn't have him signed, and by the halfway point," said Pagnotta, "we already know we're focusing on '26-'27Then I think you start to have discussions out there; the Oilers would be one of them.
As we know, Zach Hyman's role alongside McDavid, and/or Draisaitl, is to dig-out pucks from the corners, cycle and forecheck down-low, and get the puck the superstars, a role he's performed admirably since arriving in Edmonton.
You can't have enough of those types of players. Alex Tuch fits the mould perfectly for 97 and 29, with the speed, forechecking and skill.
Tuch's percentiles, as per HockeyViz, are impressive, when compared to other top-players in the NHL. His Forecheck Pressure is at 81% and his Recovered Dump-ins 64%
Some of the more important micro-stats are his High Danger Passes, which come in at 87%, Controlled Entry Chances 89%
and Defensive Zone Exit Success Rate of 90%.
and Defensive Zone Exit Success Rate of 90%.
These stats show that ALex Tuch is a versatile player who is aggressive on the forecheck and comes out winning the puck more often than most players in the league. He's very good in transition also, both when exiting the defensive zone and creating chances off the rush.
Tuch's scoring ability is also high-end. In the last three years, over 231 games, he's scored 99G and 111A, for 200 points - 1st line numbers all the way.
Also over the past three seasons, his shooting % is14.5 at 5v5, just a hair better than Draisaitl, who has a 14.4% shooting %. Shooting efficiency is the one area where both Hyman and Podkolzin typically fall short, even next to McDavid and Draisaitl, according to NHL.com.
Seems to me Tuch's an ideal player for the Oilers, whose style and skill matches the team's perfectly.
