ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Buffalo Sabres general manager Jarmo Kekäläinen said Wednesday he expects Alex Tuch’s tenure with the team to come to an end. Kekäläinen is exploring options for a sign-and-trade to recoup some value after the two sides were unable to agree on a new contract.Tuch, 30, is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. The two sides had discussed a new contract prior to the season, but tabled those talks early in the year. Publicly, both sides expressed interest in getting a deal done, but the gap has been too wide, and Kekäläinen is now prepared to move on.“I don’t think at this point we’ve come to any points in our talks that would indicate that we would sign with us,” Kekäläinen said. “I think he’s moving on and getting into free agency, and we now got to look at our options, whether it’s a sign and trade, or if we can recoup some value now that we used him as a rental for our own team.We made it clear to him that we wanted to sign him. He was an important player for us and a “good leader — all those things that we talked about very many times. But sometimes when the players have the power to choose, they choose differently.”According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Washington Capitals are the favorite to land Tuch. The Maple Leafs gave up a fifth-round pick to acquire the negotiating rights to Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh before signing him to an eight-year contract worth $8.5 million per year. Last summer, the Leafs got Nicolas Roy from Vegas in a sign-and-trade for Mitch Marner.