The Washington Capitals have added another star forward. The Caps acquired Alex Tuch in a sign-and-trade with the Buffalo Sabres for a 3rd round pick just one day after they sent Connor McMichael, Milton Gastrin and the no. 16 overall pick in Friday’s draft to the St. Louis Blues for Jordan Kyrou. Tuch, who would have been a free agent on July 1, agreed to waive his no-trade clause and promptly agreed an 8-year $64 million contract. Adding the 6’ 4” 220lbs further upgrades their top six, something general manager Chris Patrick has expressed his desire to do since he took over in July of 2024.
Tuch is a classic power forward who can play in all situations. He scored 33 goals—including 7 on the power play—to go along with 33 assists for 66 points for Buffalo in 2025-26. He has scored 50 or more points in a season five times in his career and has scored at least 59 points the past four seasons, with a career high 79 points in 2022-23. Tuch brings skill, great defensive play, and a huge net front presence to a team looking to contend for a Stanley Cup.
Tuch is one of the better defensive forwards in the NHL, having received votes the past two years for the Selke Trophy awarded to the best defensive forward in the NHL. He is a good penalty killer and scored three short-handed goals last season; the Caps scored 4 as team last season. Tuch is probably most likely familiar to Caps fans for his shot in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals that Braden Holtby stopped that will be forever remembered as “The Save.”
With the addition of the hulking Tuch and the speedy Kyrou, the Caps have totally changed their forward ranks. Coach Spencer Carbery will now have a number of skilled wingers to mix and match play with to find the right combination. Tuch could fit well on the top line with Dyland Strome and Alex Ovechkin, if Ovi decides to return next season. Strome and Ovi struggled defensively last season and could use some stability on the right side. The Caps tried a number of wingers on the right on their line last season with varying degrees of success.
However, Tuch may fit better on a line with Pierre-Luc Dubois, who as one of the better two-way forwards in the league. The Caps best line two season ago was the trio of Dubois, Tom Wilson, and Aliaksei Protas. With Tuch and Dubois making up a second line, the Caps third line would be Ilya Protas with Big Pro and Wilson, which gave teams fits in their four games together last season. With that Tuch and Kyrou are in DC, the Caps will be that much tougher to match up against.
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