The expansion Vegas Golden Knights are off to the greatest franchise start in NHL history and part of their successful 7-1-0 run can be credited to rookie Alex Tuch (pronounced TUHK), who has been impressive since being called up from the Chicago Wolves of the AHL.
Here are some excellent reasons to consider collecting Tuch this season:
- While some expected Tuch to start the 2017-18 campaign with Vegas, he was sent down to the AHL level and quickly proved that he was not about to let the demotion get him down. Over three games, he scored four goals and added an assist – which included a hat trick and an assist which came against the Texas Stars on October 6.
- Just nine days later, Tuch was promoted to the parent club and was in the lineup as they faced the Boston Bruins. That night, he opened up the scoring and scored his first career goal when he put the puck past Tuukka Rask. He then assisted on Vadim Shipachyov’s first career tally a few minutes later.
- Tuch followed up that performance with a goal two nights later against Chad Johnson of the Buffalo Sabres – a real highlight for the Syracuse, New York native:
- The Golden Knights acquired Tuch’s rights on June 21 in a deal with the Wild prior to the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft as an added bonus for promising to select veteran Erik Haula.
- Selected 18th overall by the Wild in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, Tuch is a product of the United States National Team Development Program and won a gold medal at the 2014 IIHF U-18 World Junior Championship.
- A standout for two years at Boston College, he was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie Team in 2014-15.
- When asked about who his hockey heroes are, Tuch looked up to some legendary names like Mark Messier and Claude Lemieux, but he also grew up next door to former NHL player Tim Connolly.
- Tuch made his NHL debut back on February 4 as Minnesota took on the Vancouver Canucks and he appeared in six games last season. At the AHL level, he put up a very respectable 37 points over 57 appearances with the Iowa Wild.
- At the 2016 NHLPA Rookie Showcase, Tuch opened a pack of Upper Deck cards for the first time in about a decade and enjoyed the experience. “It’s an unbelievable event,” he said. “Upper Deck and the NHLPA do a really good job of bringing us all in and treat us unbelievably. I feel like an actual pro now. It’s been a lot of fun so far and I grew up collecting the Upper Deck cards, so it’s pretty special having my pictures taken and hopefully being on a card someday.”
- He was also happy to pull a special card of a former teammate. “I played against some of these guys that are now on the cards. I got my old freshman college roommate’s (Noah Hanifin) jersey card, actually. So, I’m going to have him sign that. He’s awesome and we’re still really good friends today, so that was pretty cool.”
- Tuch has also managed to hang on to a few pieces of memorabilia thus far in his career, but some are more special than others. “I’d say the World Championship ring from my U-18 year from the NTDP and my gold medal. Pretty cool to be a world champion.”
Part of the exciting and unprecedented rookie carryover class, he made his debut with the Minnesota Wild last season and already has a handful of cards in Upper Deck releases such as MVP, O-Pee-Chee, and Artifacts.
He was also prominently featured in last season’s AHL set as a member of the Iowa Wild.
However, fans in Sin City will be excited to see his first cards wearing his new team’s uniform (along with a few of his teammates) in a few weeks as one of the hotly-anticipated Young Guns found in packs of 2017-18 NHL® Upper Deck Series One.
Stephen Laroche has been actively involved in the hockey collectibles industry in a variety of roles for nearly 20 years. In the past, he has been a writer and editor with Beckett Media and SLAM! Collectibles in addition to working as a trading card company executive and consultant. He is available for freelance work and can be contacted at [email protected]
