The Buffalo Sabres and Alex Tuch were set for a breakup, which ended today with Tuch's rights being sent to Washington, in what was technically a sign and trade. Tuch signed a contract with a $10.5 million cap hit for eight years, making him now the highest paid player on the Capitals.

The details of the trade have not yet been released.

What the Sabres lose:

With it now confirmed that the Sabres won't bring Tuch back, it means that the Sabres have lost their top-line right wing. If they can upgrade their center position this summer, it might mean that Tage Thompson gets shifted back to RW in the fall. The other option is promoting from within, and seeing whether Noah Ostlund or Konsta Helenius are ready to be a top-line player. Buffalo has the depth at forward that they don't need to add anyone else and they should still be in the playoff mix. Tuch absence creates a void to be filled by some of those young players, though perhaps no one benefits more than Jiri Kulich, who could be a top-six option next year assuming he's healthy.

Tuch scored 66 points in 79 games last season, taking almost 200 shots while playing 19 minutes a game with 1:40 of that being power play time. That is all going to have to be filled, and Tuch isn't such a special talent that it should adversely affect those he's leaving behind.

What the Capitals get:

In making Tuch they're highest paid player, the Capitals will likely also make him one of their most heavily deployed on offence, and it might also increase his power play time. He's coming off of a season where his on-ice team shooting percentage was 12.1%, which is very high, and he's due for some regression there. The added ice time and deployment should counteract a bit of the regression

Washington appears to have a bit of a logjam on the right side as a result of this deal, but Tuch has played some LW before, and Kyrou could also flex to the other side if necessary, meaning that the Capitals shouldn't have too much of an issue distributing ice time in the top nine. Their issue is going to be finding room for the other three-to-five forwards that are all worthy of at least bottom-six time. This is where one of the bigger impacts from the Tuch deal is going to be felt, is in the roster crunch at the bottom of the lineup, where Ivan Mirosnichenko, Hendrix Lapierre, and others will have to really make a good impression in camp this year.

There's also the elephant in the room that this takes up an additional spot in a now crowded forward corps, making it seem even a smidge less likely that Alex Ovechkin will return. The Capitals will likely cross that bridge if it comes, but for now it seems as though they are operating under the assumption that he is not going to return.