Mike Harrington: A year after trade, Alex Tuch revels in how he fits and looks with surging Sabres

He's got the Hollywood 'stache growing for Movember in honor of men's health awareness month. And when Tuch chatted with The Buffalo News in advance of the evening's activities against the wobbling Pittsburgh Penguins, he was bursting over his white sweatshirt with the Sabres' "goat head" and his blue and gold cap with the famous '90s Sabres logo charging off of it.

It was the Sabres' initial "Reverse Retro" night, and the first time Syracuse-area native Tuch got to wear his childhood dream of a logo in an NHL game.

"I love the all white of this one, too. It's pretty cool," Tuch said. "I don't think I've ever worn anything like that. To me, the goat head is something that's truly special, something I was able to watch and see growing up and dreamed one day putting on, and now it's going to happen."

It's pretty certain Tuch will never forget the first time. He scored what proved to be the winning goal, converting a Tage Thompson pass on a 2-on-1 break after Jeff Skinner sent them away as the Sabres roared back with five goals over the final 16½ minutes to stun the Pens, 6-3.

"I think all the guys are pretty excited about the jerseys. They look pretty nice," Thompson said. "But I think 'Tuchie' definitely takes the cake for most excited for the jerseys. So it's nice that he got the game-winner."

"When Tage has the puck in an odd-man situation, you've always got to be ready for it," Tuch said. "It was a great play by 'Skinny' and they're both unbelievable playmakers. Go to the net, stick on the ice and he found me."

Tuch fits so seamlessly with this team that it feels like he has been around for several years. Of course, that's not remotely the case.

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Thursday will mark one year since Tuch learned he had been traded to the Sabres through a phone call from Vegas General Manager Kelly McCrimmon. It took until the morning of Nov. 4, one year ago Friday, for the Sabres and Golden Knights to announce the hockey world-shaking trade of deposed captain Jack Eichel. (Aside: Thanks for nothing to everyone involved for my 4:40 a.m. Pacific Time wakeup that morning in Seattle).

"I got a text from Kelly McCrimmon, and he asked me to call," Tuch recalled. "It's a sinking feeling in my gut. Whenever the GM texts you and says, 'Call me,' it's probably not a great thing. I called back and he told me the news and that was pretty much it. It was actually kind of uneventful. There was a lot of phone calls that had to be taken care of after that."

Tuch revealed he had heard the Sabres and Golden Knights were actually close to an Eichel deal a week earlier, but nothing happened. I had floated Tuch's name in a column way back in mid-July as being a good trade target for the Sabres if they worked an Eichel deal with Vegas, but it just seemed like the Golden Knights' cap situation would make it impossible. Of course, Vegas' use of LTIR allowed it to fit Eichel in under its cap when he was activated in February.

"It feels like I have been here for a while now, right? Definitely doesn't feel like only a year," Tuch said. "It feels longer. Then again, looking back on it, it also feels like it's been like two seconds. A time-flies-when-you're-having-fun kind of thing. So it's a little bit of both."

"The beauty of having almost a team that's brand-new is ... every day is new and original. He's been a real surge in that," coach Don Granato said of Tuch. "He's a guy that's so engaged in the moment, he brings so much excitement and energy to the moment that it kind of fit what was happening just prior to him arriving. And it gave us just another boost."

Tuch has seven goals and 10 points in Buffalo's first 10 games and seems on his way to getting the chance to crack 30 goals for the first time in his NHL career. There's no reason this can't be a trade both sides love. The Sabres are obviously enamored with Tuch, love the potential Peyton Krebs shows as a playmaker and were thrilled to get a No. 16 pick out of the deal in Swedish center Noah Ostlund when Vegas missed the playoffs. 

As for Eichel? He looks like the monster he was here in 2019-20, when he finished eighth in the Hart Trophy balloting. He's got five goals, 12 points and is plus-9 in 11 games. He went all PlayStation to score the game-winner with seven seconds left in overtime in Sunday's win over Winnipeg, then feathered an absurd pass to Shea Theodore for another OT tally Tuesday at Washington in the opener of a five-game road trip.

Where does that sojourn end? Next Thursday in KeyBank Center.

In Buffalo, of course, everything was on Eichel's shoulders. Sometimes, he handled things well. Sometimes, he didn't. Once the trade happened, the Sabres were able to quickly rebuild their culture, and Tuch was a major part of that. The story has been told many times how Tuch, upon arriving in Buffalo, wanted to meet everyone in the team offices – whether they were in hockey operations or not.

"Everyone is coming in here being themselves. Management and the coaching staff have allowed that," Tuch said. "The leadership group is where you push that envelope to being yourself. They've also brought in the right people and they brought in good people. Guys in this locker room, everyone gets along. It's a special thing. It doesn't really happen in many places, whether it's on teams or in the workplace or anything like that. So it's been a lot of fun."

The hockey has been riveting and now the fashion is a big topic too. Tuch said he saw mostly positive feedback when the Reverse Retros were unveiled and the Sabres will wear the real goat head alternates for the first time Nov. 23 against St. Louis.

"It felt awesome," Tuch said of Wednesday's jersey. "When I put it on, I had to look down and I went into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror and it was special. I can't even imagine what the red and black is going to feel like."