BUFFALO – In the coming days, weeks or months, winger Alex Tuch is expected to sign a lucrative contract extension that could allow him to retire with the Sabres.

For a team that has watched some of its high-profile players grow disgruntled in recent years and demand a trade or walk away in free agency, Tuch’s commitment would be significant.

“Everyone in here knows I love Buffalo, I love being a Buffalo Sabre and I would love to be here long term,” an upbeat Tuch said Thursday following the first session of training camp.

Yes, Tuch, 29, grew up in Baldwinsville a die-hard Sabres fan. But if he puts pen to paper, he would also be choosing the team because he’s confident he can win in Buffalo.

“The group that we have in front of us, I think, can get the job done,” he said in KeyBank Center. “We’re going to keep growing each and every day as a full team. I don’t think I’ve hit my potential.”

Remember, Tuch experienced a heck of a lot of winning with the Vegas Golden Knights before the Sabres acquired him in 2021, reaching the Stanley Cup final as a rookie and playing 66 playoff games over four seasons. His words and belief are meaningful.

Now, he’s on a team that owns an NHL-record 14-year playoff drought.

While he will express his desire to stay put – following last season, he said he hadn’t discussed a new contract with his wife, Kylie – he’s focused on the ice. He’s letting his agents handle the negotiations with general manager Kevyn Adams.

On Wednesday, Adams said he has had “good, productive conversations” with Tuch’s camp and planned to have more in the coming days.

“I don’t want anything to be a distraction,” said Tuch, who’s beginning the final season of a seven-year, $33.25 million contract. “I’m just going to be focusing on playing hockey and doing everything in my power to make sure that I’m not a distraction.”

Tuch, who’s nursing an undisclosed injury, did not practice Thursday in LECOM Harborcenter. He said he hopes to rejoin his teammates in the next couple of days.

“I’m feeling great,” he said. “It was just a minor little thing that kind of snuck up on me right before camp, and I think we just wanted to make sure I didn’t jump back too soon.”

A healthy Tuch, of course, is critical to the Sabres’ success. Very quietly, having scored 36 goals and blocked 113 shots last season – an NHL record for a forward since the stat began being tracked in 2005-06 – he has established himself as one of the NHL’s best two-way presences.

Over the final 30 games last season, he ranked among the league’s elite offensive threats, scoring a whopping 20 times, a 55-goal pace over a full year. From Feb. 4 until April 17, that gaudy total tied for the most in the league with Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin, the most prolific goal scorer in history.

Still, Tuch isn’t satisfied with his torrid late-season production,

“In my eyes, it still wasn’t good enough,” he said. “I think I made improvements from the first half of the year to the second half of the year; I thought I finished strong, and I want to continue to grow on that.”

He even earned Selke Trophy consideration, finishing 15th in the voting.

“It was a great honor,” he said. “Honestly, I want to be better this year. I want to get more. I want to be considered a top-five Selke candidate if I can. That’s the type of game that I really try to play each and every game, and that’s something that I take great pride in.”

USA Hockey noticed and invited Tuch to its Olympic Orientation Camp last month in Michigan.

“The invitation was incredible,” he said.

Tuch would’ve liked to represent his country at the World Championship in the spring – teammate Tage Thompson’s gold clinched Team USA’s first gold medal at the tournament in 92 years – but Kylie gave birth to a boy, Teller, three weeks premature.

“He had some underdeveloped lungs,” he said. “He was on an incubator and a chest tube for about two and a half weeks. But he’s happy, he’s healthy. He’s over 17 pounds at four months, so he’s a unit, (a) big boy.”