A healthier Buffalo roster is starting to give Lindy Ruff more choices, and one of the biggest comes Wednesday night against the Philadelphia Flyers: Jiri Kulich looks ready for a real shot in a premium spot.
At Tuesday’s practice, Kulich was between Tage Thompson and Josh Doan on the top line, according to Rachel Lenzi of the Buffalo News. That’s the clearest sign yet that the Sabres want to see whether the young center can handle the role they’ve been chasing since Jack Eichel left the organization in 2021.
Kulich’s path to this moment has not been smooth. Early in the 2025-26 season, a blood clot stopped his season temporarily and raised concerns about possible lingering effects.
Those worries have eased, and the Czechia native is healthy again. Through seven games, he has three points - one goal and two assists - and now he’s in position to see a bigger workload.
That opportunity comes with a familiar kind of pressure for Buffalo. Ruff has mixed and matched his lines early, but Thompson has spent much of that time in the middle.
He can do it, sure, but the Sabres also know that moving him to the wing can unlock more offense and protect some of the defensive issues in his game. If Kulich can seize the center job, that gives Buffalo a very different look.
The idea of Kulich filling that vacancy has been around for a while. Last season, the Sabres were already hoping he could develop into their No. 1 center, especially after Josh Norris went down early and missed nearly two months. The 6-foot-6 Thompson became the fallback option, but Buffalo still had its eyes on Kulich as the long-term answer.
The appeal is obvious. Kulich produced 94 points in 123 games with the AHL’s Rochester Americans, and the Sabres have long seen the offensive tools.
The issue has been translating that ability to the NHL level. Wednesday gives him a chance to do it with elite talent next to him and a winger in Doan who brings the kind of work rate that can make that line function.
Buffalo is also welcoming back Jason Zucker, and that matters just as much for the overall shape of the lineup. Zucker missed time after offseason sports hernia surgery, but he’s slated to skate with Josh Norris and Konsta Helenius against the Flyers.
Since signing as a free agent in 2024, Zucker has put up 98 points - 45 goals and 53 assists - in 135 games. The number that jumps off the page is the one tied to the power play: 21 of those goals have come with the man advantage, which is exactly where the Sabres have been sputtering. They entered Wednesday ranked 31st in the NHL on the power play at 9.1%.
The latest forward shuffle also sends Peyton Krebs and Ryan McLeod to the fourth line, while Zach Benson, Noah Ostlund and Jack Quinn remain together after the early-season success they’ve found as a unit. The goal is simple enough: create more stability, more punch, and a little more of the offense Buffalo expected when the season began.
The Sabres are scoring at 2.93 goals per 60 minutes in all situations, which ranks 20th in the league. That’s a step down from last season, when they finished fifth in that category at 3.42 and made their first playoff appearance in 15 years.
Of course, offense is only part of the problem. Buffalo still has issues in goal and on the penalty kill. But if the attack starts humming again, it can cover a lot of those cracks.
That matters even more with the schedule tightening up. Wednesday is Buffalo’s only home game in a stretch that runs from Oct. 13 through Nov. 3, so the Sabres need points wherever they can get them, especially with the Atlantic Division looking strong.
The record may not show it yet, but Buffalo is getting closer to being whole. And for Kulich, this is the kind of opening that can change the shape of his season.
In Other News...
Why Dylan Larkin Still Has Buffalo On The Outside Looking In
Dylan Larkins trade wishlist has grown, but Buffalo is still not part of it. The Detroit captain has expanded his preferred destinations from three teams to 10, and the Sabres remain on the outside looking in as chatter around a possible move continues to swirl without any confirmation that a deal is coming.
The updated list stretches across a wide swath of the league, from Carolina and Colorado to Dallas, Florida, Minnesota, New Jersey, Tampa Bay, Utah, Vegas and Washington. For Buffalo, that leaves the same lingering question as before: whether the Sabres could ever become a realistic landing spot if this situation keeps developing, or whether they will stay in the background while other contenders wait to see how it plays out. [Read more 🡒]
Josh Norris Is Finally Giving The Sabres What They Needed
Josh Norris has started to look like the kind of middle-of-the-lineup presence the Sabres were hoping for when they brought him in, and the timing matters. After taking a collision in overtime last Thursday and entering concussion protocol, he was quickly back on the ice, back at practice and back in games, which only sharpened the focus on what he has been giving Buffalo lately: more finish, more edge and a style that fits the way Lindy Ruff wants this group to play.
Norris has scored in two of his last three games, and Ruff has pointed to the physical side of his game as a sign that the Sabres are getting the full package. Around him, the offense has been adding milestones too, with Tage Thompson continuing to climb the franchise scoring charts, but Norris is the one whose recent surge could matter most if Buffalo wants more consistency from its top end and its depth at the same time. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Finally Get Back A Veteran Who Could Jumpstart The Offense
Jason Zucker is finally on the verge of making his Sabres debut, with the veteran winger expected back Wednesday against the Flyers after recovering from sports hernia surgery. He missed training camp and the first nine games while rehabbing from the August procedure, but now appears fully cleared to rejoin a Buffalo lineup that has been looking for a steadier offensive spark and a little more help on the power play.
Lindy Ruff and Jarmo Keklinen have both pointed to the value Zucker can bring beyond the box score, especially for a young group still finding its footing. Buffalo also has an eye on how his return affects Konsta Helenius, whose development could benefit from skating alongside a proven NHL forward as the Sabres try to give their attack a more reliable edge. [Read more 🡒]