This season Alex Tuch has played in 72 of the Golden Knights 80 games putting up career-high numbers across the board. 20 goals, 32 assists, a +13 rating, and just 8 penalty minutes over the course of the whole season. He was the team leader in points for a long stretch of the middle of the season and currently leads the team in game-winning goals with six.
Tuch has done all of it in while playing right wing. However, he hasn’t played right wing all season. On five separate occasions, Tuch has been utilized as a left wing, three of those coming within the last five games.
In those five games, Tuch has a total of zero goals, zero assists, a +0 rating, and zero penalty minutes. His TOI is down from his season average of 16:46 to 16:02, and in two of the five he played less than 15 minutes.
That being said, he’s been credited by NaturalStatTrick for creating 15 scoring chances individually (up from his season average). He’s taken 15 shots, or three per game (up from his season average), and he’s put up an impressive 65.1% Corsi (up from his season average).
The Golden Knights have conceded just one goal against with Tuch on the ice in the five games (.20 per game) he played on the left while they’ve allowed 46 in the other 67 games (.69 per game).
Vegas has also dominated in high danger chances for and against with Tuch on the left wing, creating 21 while allowing only six. That’s good for a 77.8%, Tuch’s season average is 60.0%.
Moving forward, it appears Tuch will have a home on the right wing with Cody Eakin and one of Brandon Pirri, Tomas Nosek, or Ryan Carpenter. Vegas will rely upon at least some scoring from that line, and Tuch will have to be a big part of that.
Whether he’s on the right or the left wing, the Golden Knights need him in the playoffs. I’d recommend they play him on the right, because results are always better than analytics.
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