BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Sabres have agreed to a sign-and-trade deal sending veteran forward Alex Tuch to the Washington Capitals, a person with knowledge of the move told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

To make the trade, the Sabres first signed Tuch to an eight-year, $84 million contract, the person told the AP, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the agreement and trade had not been announced.

The sign-and-trade option was all that was left for the Sabres to get anything in return for Tuch. Earlier in the day, Sabres general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said there was no progress in contract talks with Tuch, and he was anticipating the player to hit the free-agent market once the NHL’s signing period opened next week.

By signing with Buffalo first, Tuch received the benefit of landing an eight-year contract. In free agency, he would have been limited to signing a seven-year deal with another team.

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The 30-year-old Tuch is a 10-year NHL veteran who topped 20 goals in four of his five seasons in Buffalo — including scoring 33 or more in each of the past two years.

In Buffalo, he had 139 goals and 309 points in 360 games in filling a top-line role. Overall, he has 200 goals and 448 points in 615 NHL games.

Trading Tuch comes a day after Buffalo lost another key contributor from a team that led to the Sabres winning their first Atlantic Division title and win its first playoff round since 2007.

The Sabres traded defenseman Bowen Byram and checking line forward Jordan Greenway to the Chicago Blackhawks. Buffalo acquired Chicago’s No. 4 pick and a second-round selection in this weekend’s draft, along with promising defenseman Louis Crevier.

The Capitals, meanwhile, have pulled off two trades in two days.

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Washington acquired forward Jordan Kyrou in a trade sending 25-year-old center Connor McMichael, center prospect Milton Gästrin and Washington’s first-round pick (16th overall) in the draft to the St. Louis Blues.

Kyrou, 28, was an All-Star in 2022 and has scored at least 30 goals in three of the last four seasons.

But his ice time dropped to just 15:44 per game last season and he finished with 46 points, his lowest total since the 2020-21 season.

He is under contract until the 2030-31 season, with a cap hit of $8.125 million.