Jiri Kulich didn’t need the scoreboard to make Saturday feel meaningful.
A few days into training camp, the Sabres held an intrasquad scrimmage at KeyBank Center, and for Kulich it marked his first time back on the ice with his teammates since Nov. 1.
That’s 322 days away from game action, and after everything he’s been through, the setting barely mattered. The 22-year-old was just happy to be there.
“It’s unreal,” an excited Kulich, who was sidelined by a blood clot last season, said following Saturday’s Blue and Gold scrimmage in KeyBank Center. “I can’t even describe the feeling. It’s just unreal seeing everyone, being around them, and being with them on the ice is just, yeah, it’s pretty special.”
Kulich’s last 11 months have been anything but simple. He was coming off a strong rookie season in which he scored 15 goals and finished the year centering the No. 1 line. Then came a stretch that limited him to just 12 games in 2025-26.
At first, he thought the absence would be brief. Maybe a month or two.
Instead, the uncertainty dragged on long enough that there were moments he questioned whether he would play hockey again. The clot was finally removed in March, and counting the Stanley Cup Playoffs, he missed the final 83 games.
He couldn’t get back on the ice for contact until July. Even that delay came after what he called a difficult early stretch.
“The first couple months were tough,” he said.
The rest of the summer, though, gave him a chance to train normally, and Kulich believes that work showed up Saturday.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been that prepared like I am right now,” he said.
Buffalo used him at left wing on the fourth line, where he skated alongside center Sam Carrick and Beck Malenstyn. Kulich is naturally a center, but with the Sabres carrying plenty of players at that spot, he’s been getting looks on the wing, too. That includes rookies and regulars in similar situations, with Konsta Helenius and Ryan McLeod also skating as wingers.
“There’s going to be different places he plays,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said of Kulich. “… When you look at what Kuli can bring, I think he’s just working his way into our lineup.”
Ruff watched the scrimmage from a suite and said Kulich settled in as the pace went on.
“(He) made some good plays, had a couple great chances,” he said. “I think there’s opportunities, there’s a few more plays out there he could’ve made.
But I thought overall, I thought he skated really well. He was noticeable.”
For Kulich, the takeaway was simpler than all the lineup talk. After a year away, he was back with the group, back on the ice and back doing what he loves.
“I haven’t been on the ice with the team for a year, so I’m just happy that I can be out there,” Kulich said. “I honestly don’t care if I’m on the fourth line or first line right now. So (I) just want to be out there and just want to have fun.”
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Sabres Roster Battle Just Got More Serious Than Fans Realized
The Sabres Blue & Gold Scrimmage offered a first real look at a roster mix that included NHL regulars and some AHL hopefuls, a useful checkpoint with the preseason set to begin Monday in Pittsburgh. Several players found the net in the scrimmage and a postgame shootout, giving Buffalo a chance to sort through competition on the fly while Lindy Ruff kept the focus on evaluation in a setting that looked and felt closer to game speed than a typical September workout.
Ruff also pointed to the new collective bargaining agreement as a factor in how the club can manage its preseason looks, and that matters for a roster still trying to sort out its depth chart. With Buffalo navigating limited exhibition reps for certain veterans, every shift has a little more weight than fans may have assumed, and the race for spots looks like it will be decided quickly once the games start counting toward the preseason record. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Camp Battle Could Reshape Buffalos Top Six Fast
Lindy Ruff is spending camp with a rare kind of problem in front of him, the sort coaches usually welcome because it gives them options everywhere else. The Sabres have a center group that can also slide to the wing, which gives Ruff a lot of flexibility as he pieces together lines and looks for ways to help Buffalo get cleaner possession off the draw.
That versatility is already showing up in practice, where Tage Thompson, Josh Norris, Noah Ostlund and Sam Carrick were taking turns down the middle while Ryan McLeod, Peyton Krebs and others worked on the wing. It leaves the Sabres with plenty of room to experiment, but it also means the battle for the best fit in the top six could move quickly once camp decisions start getting real. [Read more 🡒]
Jack Quinn Is Forcing His Way Into A Bigger Sabres Role
Jack Quinn has spent Sabres camp making the kind of impression that can change a seasons conversation fast. After looking lively in the Blue & Gold Scrimmage, where he chipped in a goal and an assist, the winger has carried that momentum into a camp that has drawn plenty of attention around Buffalos younger core. Coach Lindy Ruff has already pointed to Quinns progress from a year ago, saying the forward has taken another step forward.
With Quinn now entering the final year of his contract, the timing matters as much as the performance. The Sabres are looking for more offense and more consistency from the lineup, and Quinn appears to be pushing his way toward a larger opportunity in both the everyday rotation and special teams. For a player trying to turn a strong camp into a bigger season, the next question is how much of that expanded trust he can turn into real game-time responsibility. [Read more 🡒]