Alex Tuch won't be riding shotgun with Connor McDavid

Well, it's official. Alex Tuch is a Capital. And we, dear Edmonton Oilers fans, are left staring at the ceiling.

Elliotte Friedman dropped the news on Wednesday that Tuch is heading to Washington in a sign-and-trade with the Buffalo Sabres, signing an eight-year extension worth $10.5 million per season. The Sabres get a third-round pick.

Washington gets arguably the best winger available in this year's shallow free agent pool. And Edmonton gets to watch from a distance, again.

But he was right there

For months, the Tuch-to-Edmonton seemed somewhat realistic. Insiders had the Oilers firmly in the mix. It was reported as far back as last October that Edmonton was among four teams making inquiries about Tuch. By spring, he was dubbed the ultimate top-six solution. Allan Mitchell at The Athletic went so far as to say a 40-goal season was possible if Tuch lined up beside McDavid or Draisaitl.

Tuch is 30, posted 66 points in 79 games this season, hit the 200-goal milestone for his career, and is a legit two-way winger with size, speed and playoff experience. He's the kind of player Connor McDavid could do well with beside him on the right wing.

So what happened? Money and math, as always.

The Oilers came into this offseason with roughly $16.5 million in cap space but completely boxed in by Darnell Nurse's $9.25 million cap hit and the need to re-sign Connor Murphy, Jason Dickinson, and others. Tuch's camp was reportedly targeting the Adrian Kempe deal, around $10.5 million per year, and Edmonton couldn't get there without a significant Nurse trade first clock ticking.

That trade never came fast enough. Washington stepped in aggressively, gave Tuch the long-term deal he wanted and paired him alongside Jordan Kyrou, who they'd just acquired from St. Louis.

The 2026 free agent class was already thin. With Tuch gone, it just got thinner. There's no obvious Plan B winger at his level available on July 1. This was the guy. The fit was almost perfect. Big, 200-career-goal scorer, penalty killer, playoff-tested and he plays the right wing where Edmonton has ached for help since basically forever.

I really, really wanted to see this happen. The idea of Tuch lining up on McDavid's right side giving Connor an actual power forward who could outmuscle defenders and bury pucks in tight, was exciting in a way that doesn't come around often in a weak free-agent year. It felt like the missing piece. Well, it still feels like the missing piece.

GM Stan Bowman needs to get creative fast. The Nurse situation needs resolution. Every day that goes by with that cap hit on the books is a day the Oilers fall further behind in the arms race.

Washington is now a genuinely scary team. Tuch, Kyrou, Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and potentially Ovechkin for one more year?

So, Tuch won't be riding shotgun with Connor McDavid. And I think that's going to chafe a bit every time Washington scores a goal this season.

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