Alex Tuch may be gearing up for his first game in a Washington Capitals uniform, but DC fans already remember him well.
Long before Washington acquired him in a sign-and-trade deal from the Buffalo Sabres, Tuch’s Vegas Golden Knights were the last team standing between the Capitals and the 2018 Stanley Cup. Vegas took a 1-0 lead in the series and was down by one goal late in Game 2, and when Tuch shot on what appeared to be a wide-open Washington net, a tie game seemed all but guaranteed.
Instead, Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby made arguably the greatest save in franchise history.
Barely two minutes remained on the clock when the puck ricocheted to Vegas center Cody Eakin, who set Tuch up for a one-timer. Holtby was positioned at the far post but dove to make the stop, catching the puck with the paddle of his stick and leaving teammates and opponents reeling in shock. The Capitals did not lose a game for the remainder of the series, winning the Cup in Game 5.
Asked about the play at his first Capitals media availability on Friday, Tuch gave a wry grin.
“What’s that saying: if you can’t beat them, join them?” he said, laughing.
The play has haunted Tuch and featured in Capitals highlight reels for close to a decade, with Tuch joking that he’d been avoiding questions about it “for a long time.” Now, he’s set to play for the team that denied him a championship.
“That save was incredible,” he said. “I talked to Holtby in the line after, and he said it was the luckiest save of his life. So that made me feel a little bit better, but not really at the same time, because he was shaking my hand after winning the Cup. That was an incredible save, but at the same time, it was an incredible experience for me. I hated that I came up short. It bothers me to this day that we didn’t win that Stanley Cup.”
Tuch, then a 21-year-old rookie in Vegas, remembers the series well.
“It was just such a whirlwind, and it was so much fun, but that Capitals team was incredible,” he said. “Man, they were so hard to play against. Their power play was incredible. They just brought it every single night. It was just so hard. There was no room out there. They just played, honestly, four perfect games and one almost perfect game that we were able to win, Game 1.”
After that Final, Tuch spent three more seasons with the Golden Knights, briefly playing alongside Capitals goaltender Logan Thompson, before joining his hometown Buffalo Sabres in 2021. He recorded 66 points (33g, 33a) in 79 games last season, ranking third on the team in scoring, and was set to become the top prize of this year’s free agency class.
However, Tuch didn’t make it to July 1 without a team, becoming one of several splashy additions to the Capitals this offseason. Alongside Tuch, the team traded for St. Louis Blues forward Jordan Kyrou, adding two high-scoring wingers after a season in which they struggled to put the puck in the net. Tuch also has experience playing at all three strengths in Buffalo and has ranked in the top 15 in Selke voting each of the past two years. With Tuch on the ice at five-on-five last season, the Sabres recorded 51.4 percent of shot attempts, 52 percent of expected goals, 50.5 percent of scoring chances, and 53.5 percent of high-danger chances.
Tuch opted to keep the details of his negotiations with the Sabres private, noting that “no one besides myself, my family, my agent, and Buffalo’s management will truly know how everything transpired,” but said that leaving the team was “one of the hardest decisions of my life.”
“It’s a business, and you realize how much of a business it is,” he added. “I knew this the first time I ever got traded, and then the second time I ever got traded, I really knew it was a business. Going into it, I really focused on what I thought was the best opportunity for me, both capitalizing on free agency and also on the hockey. My thoughts were I wanted to go to a team that is going to be super competitive for a very long time, because I think I’m in the prime of my career.
“And also, a lot of times — I mean, you don’t get to go to free agency a lot, and so this is an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. I needed to do what I felt was best for my family and I. They did make a last-push effort, and I really appreciated that. We were in talks as of last week, and it was something that I had to take a lot of time in thinking (over).”
Tuch will become the highest-paid Capitals player when he hits the ice this fall, earning $10.5 million per season through 2034.
Besides the blockbuster eight-year, $84 million deal Washington offered Tuch — he pointed to the contract’s term as something he was particularly proud of — the team itself was a compelling destination. Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery and general manager Chris Patrick held a “really long” meeting with Tuch’s agent before the trade, helping to sell Tuch on the move.
“Everything that they were saying about what they saw in me, what they would like me to do, what I could bring to the table, and also about their team…I just thought that I could bring something to the table that helps propel the Capitals to the ultimate goal,” Tuch said.
Tuch wasn’t deterred by Washington’s disappointing results last season, which saw the team miss the playoffs by four points. He pointed to Pierre-Luc Dubois’ abdominal injury as a major factor and compared the Caps to the back-to-back champion Florida Panthers, who also failed to make the postseason this spring.
“I knew that it was a little bit of a fluke, especially coming off such a good year prior…Just two years ago, they won the Metropolitan,” he said. “I think it was just a down year. Dubois only played 20 games, and when you lose one of your top six centermen for 60 games out of the year, that really hurts the club.”
And though Alex Ovechkin has yet to decide on his future, the chance to play with the league’s all-time top goal-scorer was an exciting prospect — as was the chance to get his hands on some memorabilia.
“It’s been just incredible to see everything that he’s been able to accomplish,” Tuch said of Ovechkin. “I would love for him to come back. I would love to get to know him. He’s such a legend. I mean, he’s going to be a Hall of Famer. He’s the greatest goal scorer ever, and if I can learn a little bit from him, that would be incredible. And maybe, if you know anyone that can get me a stick, I would love a stick of Ovi’s as well.”
Less than 48 hours after the trade became official, the Capitals locker room was already welcoming Tuch into the fold. Not only had close to half the team reached out to him, he told reporters, but his wife had spoken to several players’ partners, who offered help as the couple prepares to move to the DMV.
“We’ve heard nothing but incredible things about the DC area and Virginia, where all the guys live, and so we’ve gotten really excited about that,” he said.
Tuch recounted a humorous moment from his conversation with now-teammate Tom Wilson, one of just two players remaining from that 2018 Cup-winning roster.
“I had a nice phone chat with Willy. I told him, ‘Man, Willy, I’m just really happy I don’t have to play against you anymore,’” Tuch said. “And he said, ‘Yeah, I’m glad I don’t have to chase you around the ice either.’ We had a good chuckle at that.”
And at the very least, Tuch won’t have to worry about Capitals goalies anymore, either.
