The Vancouver Canucks were reportedly far down the path of acquiring current Buffalo Sabre Josh Norris around this past Trade Deadline, but it didn’t work out.

We’ve already written about the possibility of them restarting those Norris-centric discussions during this 2025 offseason. And while that remains a distinct possibility, there may actually be a much better trade candidate lurking on Buffalo’s forward roster in the form of Alex Tuch.

The appeal of a player like Tuch is obvious, even at a glance. He just turned 29, stands 6’4” and 220 pounds, and completed his second 36-goal campaign in three years during the 2024/25 season.

Tuch stands out as one of the last remaining true power forwards in the game. In a perfect world, the Sabres would keep him in the fold – especially considering he hails from nearby Syracuse, New York. But at the same time, Tuch has just one year remaining on his $4.75 million AAV contract until he hits UFA status in the summer of 2026.

If the early goings of July pass by without Tuch having signed an extension, the Sabres will have to consider trading him, rather than watching him walk away for nothing at the end of what we have to assume will be another disappointing Buffalo season.

Elliotte Friedman has reported that Tuch “has not asked to move,” but that’s not the same as asking to stay, and it’s definitely not the same as signing an extension. As such, the rumours of his pending departure have already started to crop up.

With just a five-team no-trade clause, Tuch doesn’t have an abundance of control over his destination. That said, if the Sabres want to maximize their return, they’re probably best trading Tuch to somewhere he’s willing to negotiate and sign with, preferably as part of trade discussions.

On that front, we’ve heard tell that Tuch’s wife Kylie is from the Vancouver area, and many have used this fact to theorize that the Canucks might be a preferred destination should the Tuchs leave New York State.

In other words, there are plenty of reasons to think Tuch might be a valid trade target for the Canucks to pursue, if not immediately, then in a few weeks if Tuch still hasn’t signed an extension with the Sabres.

Of course, in this instance in particular, a valid trade target does not translate into an affordable one.

Tuch is truly your classic power forward profile, right down to the late-blooming.

He was drafted by the Minnesota Wild at 18^th overall in 2014 before embarking on two seasons at Boston College. He signed with the Wild after that, and played most of the 2016/17 with Iowa of the AHL, along with his first six NHL games in Minnesota, during which he went pointless.

The Expansion Draft of 2017 brought the Vegas Golden Knights into existence, and a slew of lopsided trades ensued as teams struggled to adjust to the new team-building rules. The Wild traded Tuch and a conditional third round pick to Vegas in exchange for Vegas selecting Erik Haula in the Expansion Draft – or, more indirectly, in exchange for their not picking Eric Staal, Matt Dumba, or Marco Scandella instead.

The rookie Tuch was one of the reasons those inaugural Golden Knights got off the ground running. He put up 15 goal sand 37 points in 78 games for 2017/18, and then added another ten points in 20 games as Vegas improbably marched all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals in their debut season.

Tuch then avoided the sophomore curse in 2018/19, racking up 20 goals and 52 points in 74 games.

Injuries and the COVID-19 pandemic shortened Tuch’s 2019/20 season, though that was perhaps for the best, as Tuch had a dreadful year of just 17 points in 42 games. But he rebounded nicely in those eventual 2020 playoffs with 12 points in 20 postseason games on the way to the Western Conference Finals.

Tuch’s goal-scoring took another uptick, pace-wise, for 2020/21, with 18 goals and 33 points in 55 games, and then another nine points in 19 postseason games. But it was not enough to keep him in Vegas. That summer, Tuch was included in the trade that brought Jack Eichel to Vegas, alongside Peyton Krebs, a first round pick, and a second round pick.

Tuch won some accolades for being the rare player to express genuine excitement upon arriving in Buffalo. His first season there, 2021/22, featured some injury trouble and a respectable, if lackluster, 12 goals and 38 points in 50 games.

But it would be Tuch’s 2022/23 season, at age 26, where he would really seem to put it all together. Tuch broke out to 36 goals and 79 points in 74 games, blowing all previous career highs out of the water. And he did so on a Buffalo team that didn’t exactly have an abundance of offence to brag about elsewhere on the roster.

The 2023/24 season was a stepback for Tuch, down to 22 goals and 59 points in 75 games – still the second-best season of his career. But he bounced all the way back to another 36 goals and 67 points in 82 games this past 2024/25 season, bringing us all the way to the present day.

As we’ve said, Tuch profiles as a vintage power forward, able to use his big body to protect and carry the puck to either drive it toward the net or create space for his teammates. There are actually some compelling similarities between he and former Canuck Bo Horvat. Both were drafted amid some questions regarding their skating ability, but both worked extremely hard on fixing that flaw. Today, Tuch, like Horvat, is one of the best in the league at carrying the puck with momentum.

He’s also taken his time in the NHL to really round out the rest of his game. Tuch earns ample praise for his two-way dedication. Get this: last season was the first of his career with a Corsi rating below 50%, and it only dipped down to 49.88%. For a player who has now spent more than half of his career in Buffalo, that’s simply remarkable. Tuch has managed to be on the ice for more goals for than against in each of his Sabres campaigns thus far, and that’s while typically facing matchups that are more difficult than the league average.

Already a fixture on the power play, Tuch has also become one of Buffalo’s best penalty killers.

Yes, this is truly a player who can and does do it all. If he really is available this summer, he’s easily one of the most valuable forwards on the market.

Naturally, that means he won’t come cheap.

The Canucks have to hope here that some factors align to potentially reduce their personal cost for Tuch. If, say, he expresses that Vancouver is one of the few places he’d be willing to negotiate a new contract with prior to a trade, that would definitely help. If not, and if the Canucks are just one of many equal bidders on a Tuch trade, we can expect the price-tag to reach some pretty astronomical heights.

The Sabres, as we’ve noted before, are most interested in returning to the playoffs after a full 14 years away from them. That means they’re primarily interested in pieces that can help them now. All that said, the Sabres may also be willing to accept some future assets that they could then flip later, so really, anything is on the table.

We’ve noted before that the Sabres are particularly invested in improving the right side of their blueline. Rasmus Dahlin can play on his off-side, but they’d be much better off if they had genuine RD partners available for he and Owen Power. That means that Filip Hronek and prospect Tom Willander would be very high on their list of potential acquisitions.

A Hronek for Tuch trade favours the Sabres quite heavily, especially given the discrepancy in contract length. That would have to be the basis of a much larger trade.

We do think there’s potential for a Willander-for-Tuch swap, especially if Tuch indicates he’s not going to re-sign in Buffalo. Such a deal would be tough to swallow for the Vancouver fanbase, but if they could get Tuch under extension as part of it, it would feel a lot more acceptable.

Beyond those clear-cut pieces, anything else seems as though it would have to become part of a package. The Canucks’ 15^th overall pick is a valuable piece, but it doesn’t quite add up to Tuch’s value on its own. A Conor Garland-for-Tuch swap makes some sense if each side is willing to sign an extension with their new club thereafter, but the Canucks would almost certainly have to add something significant on top as they acquire the better of the two players.

Without knowing exactly what Buffalo is doing with their other sellables this offseason, the exact price-tag is a little difficult to prognosticate. Suffice it to say that the Canucks should have the pieces on hand to meet the Sabres’ ask, but perhaps not without enduring a tough decision on the way to doing so.

There’s no scenario in which the Canucks acquire Tuch for anything approaching ‘cheap.’ But there are perhaps scenarios where it makes sense for them to pay a little extra for him, and in doing so obtain a much more impactful forward than they could reasonably acquire elsewhere.

At least this section comes easy.

Tuch would instantly become the best winger on the Canucks, and maybe the best winger they’ve had in a while. He can score at the same basic rate as Brock Boeser while provided an ample amount of other positive attributes, including that physicality and toughness that is currently a little absent in the Vancouver forward corps.

To be clear here, when we talk Tuch’s fit in Vancouver, we primarily mean in the context of his both being traded for and extended. A one-year rental of Tuch makes the Canucks a better team in 2025/26, but wouldn’t be a smart move for the franchise in the long-term.

A Tuch extended through his early-30s, however, goes a long way toward pushing the Canucks back toward contender status. Especially if the number he extends for is anywhere similar to what they were considering paying Boeser.

We really like the potential of him matching up well with Elias Pettersson, providing both a bit of beef on his wing and the ability to keep up defensively with Pettersson’s deployments.

But really, there’s a lot to like about what Tuch would add to the lineup, and very little not to like.

If the price is right, this is a player that should be at or near the top of the Canucks’ list of targets. But if he’s subject to an open-season bidding war that pushes the cost of acquisition to the absolute maximum, this may be a piece too premium to afford.

It all comes down to the cost. Fit-wise, there are few players who fit better.