Jiri Kulich’s next step with the Buffalo Sabres is starting to look pretty clear: he needs to play, and right now that may not be happening in Buffalo.
The 22-year-old Czechia native has already been through a rough stretch. He missed most of last season because of a blood clot, came back for the start of the 2026-27 campaign, then was sidelined for five games while in the NHL’s concussion protocol and missed another game because of an illness.
Now, based on Tuesday’s practice lines reported by Rachel Lenzi of the Buffalo News, Kulich appears headed toward another night in the press box Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning:
#Sabres lines in practice, so far:
Krebs-Norris-Thompson
Benson-Ostlund-Quinn
Doan-McLeod-Zucker
Malenstyn-Kozak-Carrick
- Rachel Lenzi 💁🏻♀️😎💥 (@rachelmlenzi) November 10, 2026
Lindy Ruff could always change course before puck drop, but he usually sticks with the group that skates together in practice. After Tuesday’s session, Ruff didn’t sound like a coach ready to force the issue.
“He’s still searching for his game. I think all this time you hope you can get back to your game after a year off.
I think there’s two factors now: he came back, he got hurt, sat out some games, then he got hurt again. Soon as he was gonna get back in he took a puck to the face and got another concussion.
So, he’s really had three setbacks: a whole year and then a couple more.
He’s struggling to find his game. I believe he still has it. It might just take time.”
Lindy Ruff on Jiri Kulich
That’s the heart of the issue. Kulich isn’t being asked to solve everything at once, but he is being asked to find his footing again, and that’s hard to do when the games keep getting interrupted. Before camp, there was already some chatter about whether he might need a short stay with the AHL’s Rochester Americans, especially when Buffalo looked like it had 10 or 11 forwards competing for nine spots on the top three lines.
That conversation is back now.
Kulich has only 75 games of NHL experience, and that matters. Getting back into rhythm at hockey’s highest level is difficult for anyone; for a young player coming off a long absence, it’s even trickier. When he’s on the fringe of the lineup and occasionally a healthy scratch, it becomes even harder to build any momentum.
At the same time, Ruff is working with the roster he believes gives Buffalo the best chance to win. In a crowded Eastern Conference, the Sabres can’t afford to treat points lightly. Every game carries weight, and that makes lineup decisions harder, not easier.
Still, if the Sabres can’t guarantee Kulich a regular role, Rochester starts to make sense.
The numbers say he’s not lost. Kulich ranks eighth among Sabres forwards in both 5-on-5 expected goal share at 53.5 percent and all-situations individual expected goals per 60 minutes at 0.85, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Those are solid marks. But he’s also an offense-first player, and through 10 appearances this season he has just three points, with one goal and two assists.
Ruff pointed to the parts of Kulich’s game that need to show up even when the points aren’t there.
“What does your 'B' game look like? Whether it’s hanging on to pucks a little bit more, getting above the puck, playing well away from the puck sometimes can create extra chances,” Ruff said Tuesday. “And then when you have it, don’t complicate things but what’s that next play you can make?”
That’s where a stint with the Amerks could help. Kulich would be in a much bigger role there, likely centering the first line and running on the top power-play unit. Instead of the roughly 13 minutes he’s getting in Buffalo, he’d probably be closer to 20 a night.
That kind of workload could do more for him than sitting in the press box while the Sabres search for offense. It wouldn’t have to be a long-term move, either. But a reset in Rochester would give him the chance to play through mistakes, stack shifts, and get back to the level he showed late in the 2024-25 season before the blood clot knocked him off course.
Kulich remains a major part of Buffalo’s future. The question now is whether the Sabres are better off letting him work through this in the NHL, or giving him a brief demotion that could help him reestablish himself as one of the organization’s key building blocks.
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Buffalo has not found much rhythm as a team, winning consecutive games only twice so far, and the margin for error only gets thinner with Tampa Bay next on the schedule. Jiri Kulichs latest setback adds another wrinkle to the lineup picture, with the young forward expected to sit out against the Lightning as the Sabres keep sorting through injuries and trying to settle on a group that can deliver the same level night after night. [Read more 🡒]