C Jiri Kulich - Rochester Americans, AHL (2022, 28th, BUF)

Chainshot

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View attachment 907831

Had to look.. so this is the top 6 from last year. Not one .ppg player. Didn't make playoffs. This is not an untouchable top 6. For a comparison, I am an Oilers fan.. here are our top 6 forwards

View attachment 907833

And I wouldn't even call that an untouchable top 6.lol

Serious question... was someone missing from Sabres last year and that is why the point totals are so low? Tuch was 94th in league scoring. What happened? Injuries, key guys out?

This thread is way off topic, but it's hard to compare a team with the best player in the league arguably the best 1-2 combo at center in the league with the Sabres. :eyeroll:
 

Czechboy

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They must be extremely elite defensively, that´s why are they so good.
I mean Dahlin and Powers are amazing and I wish they were Czech. I'd take both. I have nothing against Buffalo so I'm trying not to throw too much shade.

But I just have a disconnect between 'elite top 6 that is untouchable' and 'non playoff team and 1 guy in top 100 in scoring'

To me that rosters needs some scoring... let me look at something else...

1726701764068.png


Buffalo was 23 our of 32 teams for goal scoring (blue is just goals for). Not one 30 goal scorer.

I'm honestly confused.
 
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Czechboy

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This thread is way off topic, but it's hard to compare a team with the best player in the league arguably the best 1-2 combo at center in the league with the Sabres. :eyeroll:
I apologize if I'm off topic but i keep reading about an elite top 6 that is untouchable. I don't see it personally. All nice pieces and players but that is not near the top of the NHL. Your post kind of proves it. Eg. I don't think Kulich would have a hope and hell of cracking the Oilers top 6. And we have Skinner from your top 6 last year.. he's now an Oiler. Curious where he ends up on our roster. Wasn't he a buyout?
 
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Chainshot

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I apologize if I'm off topic but i keep reading about an elite top 6 that is untouchable. I don't see it personally. All nice pieces and players but that is not near the top of the NHL. Your post kind of proves it. Eg. I don't think Kulich would have a hope and hell of cracking the Oilers top 6. And we have Skinner from your top 6 last year.. he's now an Oiler. Curious where he ends up on our roster. Wasn't he a buyout?

The exaggerating has gone way far afield. I get it, you want the Czech kid to be validated as an NHLer now. He wasn't that last year - I have an AHL pass so I can watch the Amerks and he had to improve his game. It was a good challenge, a year with some potholes that he had to navigate and he's come out the other side. 20 year olds are often not ready for the NHL. He wasn't ready last year. His early season look was mild at best. His mid-season scoring drought was certainly an issue. He figured out more and more how to compliment the team when he wasn't finishing plays.

As for Skinner, that's not really something for this thread. I'm sure there are plenty of places to talk about how he was shit last year in Buffalo an perhaps he takes the buyout and is better prepared or he's healed from the hiding he took from MacKinnon on a December hit in Colorado and he sets out to prove it. Or maybe the wheels really have come off. Y'all will get to find out. But there are plenty of other contentious threads without going off about that here.

As of now, Kulich has a chance to push his way into the lineup. It's up to him.
 

MOGlLNY

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The Czechs are mad online because we’re saying Kulich is unlikely to be in the top 6 unless he blows the doors off and are convinced Benson will get sent down to the AHL for him LOL.

Kulich didn’t even blow the doors off the AHL last year. Went 2 months without a goal. Got absolutely WORKED in playoffs. He’s not a finished product and Vinny Prospal agrees.

Doesn’t know Jeff Skinner was a buyout and has to look up counting stats to judge it but knows for sure than Kulich should be in the top 6 over people who watch the team every night.

Give it a rest. That’s it for me on this thread. I’d love for Kulich to break in but saying it’s ridiculous if he doesn’t shows you don’t know a thing about the org or are biased.

Sabres fans have no purpose in being biased to our roster, we want anybody who will have us winning. Can’t say for the other 2 in this thread
 
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BKarchitect

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We are at the time of year where we like to talk about where a player or prospect is gonna spend the year in “absolutes” because it just is a simpler way to arrange depth charts.

The truth is a guy like Kulich is likely to end up in a variety of situations over the course of the next calendar year.

- Maybe he forces the issue at camp and makes the big squad and gets some NHL games in a third line role…maybe you stick him with a Greenway or McLeod to anchor him with some heft and two-way experience.

- Maybe he eventually goes back to Rochester for more seasoning as an absolute top minute forward.

- Maybe when Quinn inevitably goes on IR, a spot in the top six in Buffalo opens and he gets some cool scoring line opportunities.

I think we can all agree him just being an 8-10 minute 13th forward all year is not ideal but otherwise, I think a lot of scenarios are all possible.
 

GettingYourMoms

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The Czechs are mad online because we’re saying Kulich is unlikely to be in the top 6 unless he blows the doors off and are convinced Benson will get sent down to the AHL for him LOL.

Kulich didn’t even blow the doors off the AHL last year. Went 2 months without a goal. Got absolutely WORKED in playoffs. He’s not a finished product and Vinny Prospal agrees.

Doesn’t know Jeff Skinner was a buyout and has to look up counting stats to judge it but knows for sure than Kulich should be in the top 6 over people who watch the team every night.

Give it a rest. That’s it for me on this thread. I’d love for Kulich to break in but saying it’s ridiculous if he doesn’t shows you don’t know a thing about the org or are biased.

Sabres fans have no purpose in being biased to our roster, we want anybody who will have us winning. Can’t say for the other 2 in this thread
Thats literary what i said few comments before, stop reaching. And stop spewing nonsense that your super mediocre top 6 is untouchable.
 
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Tatanka

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The scoring was never in question but gosh, if Kulich has unlocked a more complete game it’s gonna be hard to send him down. Still probably need to temper things until we see it against full NHL squads and the depth in front of him is a potential road block if everybody is healthy in terms of making an immediate impact.

I do wonder if he eventually makes a guy like JJP available in the right deal to round out the blueline with another piece? Something will have to give eventually with all the forwards and forward prospects especially because the Sabres have filled their bottom six with more traditional bottom six veterans this off-season. A slightly older prospect like Rosen is at risk for over-stewing and potentially losing options/value without much avenue to making the club in the next year…
JJ has more offensive upside. Kulich makes guys like Krebs expendable.
 

MOGlLNY

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Thats literary what i said few comments before, stop reaching. And stop spewing nonsense that your super mediocre top 6 is untouchable.
Just because we don't think Kulich is going to jump these guys YET doesn't mean we think it's untouchable lmao. Christ.

Just shows how little you know about the organization and are strictly following Kulich's story because Sabres fans have been begging for a top 6 winger all offseason. If Kulich becomes that - f***ing fantastic.

As it stands right now - Benson is a better player than Kulich in multiple facets of the game that the Sabres need and it isn't particularly close.
 

Mattilaus

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Love love love how this just became a bash Buffalo thread instead of a discuss kulich thread. Saw it had some activity and figured I might come in here and see some insight into kulich. Instead I just see talk about how the Sabres suck.

Good thing too, there aren't enough threads to bash the Sabres in. Definitely short supply.
 
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GettingYourMoms

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JJ has more offensive upside. Kulich makes guys like Krebs expendable.
All of your top6 players are fair game to Kulich, like i said deep but extremely mediocre forward group, no stars in sight except Thompson and potentionaly Peterka, and Kulich is not going to play in bottom 6 not with Sabres or he´ll be gone soon lol.
 

Tatanka

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All of your top6 players are fair game to Kulich, like i said deep but extremely mediocre forward group, no stars in sight except Thompson and potentionaly Peterka, and Kulich is not going to play in bottom 6 not with Sabres or he´ll be gone soon lol.
Not really. Quinn is better and has more offensive upside. Kulich is good but lacks creativity. He will need a creative player to create for him.
 
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Faceboner

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All of your top6 players are fair game to Kulich, like i said deep but extremely mediocre forward group, no stars in sight except Thompson and potentionaly Peterka, and Kulich is not going to play in bottom 6 not with Sabres or he´ll be gone soon lol.
He can play in a 3rd line scoring role and get pp2 time don't see him as guy getting top pk minutes right away if he plays with Benson and McLeod that's a solid 3rd line or he could potentially play 2lw with cozens and Quinn him and zucker on one line might be redundant without a pkaymaking center
 

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He can play in a 3rd line scoring role and get pp2 time don't see him as guy getting top pk minutes right away if he plays with Benson and McLeod that's a solid 3rd line or he could potentially play 2lw with cozens and Quinn him and zucker on one line might be redundant without a pkaymaking center

As was mentioned (by me) up the thread before this became a discussion on the Sabres overall instead of just Kulich, he was rotating in with Cozens as center and Quinn on the other wing today. That's a nice way to open camp as part of the "likely to be on the team" squad that is trying to prep for the trip to Europe.
 

tsujimoto74

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I mean Dahlin and Powers are amazing and I wish they were Czech. I'd take both. I have nothing against Buffalo so I'm trying not to throw too much shade.

But I just have a disconnect between 'elite top 6 that is untouchable' and 'non playoff team and 1 guy in top 100 in scoring'

To me that rosters needs some scoring... let me look at something else...

View attachment 907835

Buffalo was 23 our of 32 teams for goal scoring (blue is just goals for). Not one 30 goal scorer.

I'm honestly confused.

I can help you resolve the disconnect: Literally nobody is making that claim. You're fighting a strawman.

Only reason Benson was in nhl last year was because he couldn’t go to ahl. Kulich is the better player out of the two and most teams take the full size player over the little boy.

lol. lmao even.
 

Faceboner

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As was mentioned (by me) up the thread before this became a discussion on the Sabres overall instead of just Kulich, he was rotating in with Cozens as center and Quinn on the other wing today. That's a nice way to open camp as part of the "likely to be on the team" squad that is trying to prep for the trip to Europe.
It all depends on his preseason play overall and probably a decent bit of the regular season maybe a 20-32 game leash depending on if he proves himself in pre season and if he is good enough to be a positve contributing player in that span then go from there.
 

Panthaz89

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All of your top6 players are fair game to Kulich, like i said deep but extremely mediocre forward group, no stars in sight except Thompson and potentionaly Peterka, and Kulich is not going to play in bottom 6 not with Sabres or he´ll be gone soon lol.
I would say Quinn is better than Peterka when healthy. Either way Kulich has his chance to make the team right now and he will get to show Ruff his skill.
 

tsujimoto74

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All of your top6 players are fair game to Kulich, like i said deep but extremely mediocre forward group, no stars in sight except Thompson and potentionaly Peterka, and Kulich is not going to play in bottom 6 not with Sabres or he´ll be gone soon lol.

Underrating Jack Quinn. He’s the most talented forward on the team. Last season, he was 5th in the NHL in 5v5 production per 60 (between #4 Matthews and #6 Pastrnak). He just missed a ton of time with an injury.

Anyway, Kulich is getting early reps at camp with our scoring lines, but he’s cycling in with regulars.
 

Faceboner

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Underrating Jack Quinn. He’s the most talented forward on the team. Last season, he was 5th in the NHL in 5v5 production per 60 (between #4 Matthews and #6 Pastrnak). He just missed a ton of time with an injury.

Anyway, Kulich is getting early reps at camp with our scoring lines, but he’s cycling in with regulars.
He is talented no doubt but p/60 isn't gonna be the best indicator, with all the time he missed it could be inflated. If he comes in and shows it wasn't just a flash then we have a solid 1st line winger
 

Dubi Doo

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I'll trust Sabres fans know their roster better than me. It's confusing because I keep reading how elite the forwards are but the Sabres haven't made playoffs since 2011. As an Oiler fan I can relate from our decade of darkness about being excited about prospects but maybe confusing what they are and what they can be. But, fine, he's not good enough to make the roster. My problem is that he's dominated his peers at every level.

So he torched the rookie tournament .. no big deal as it's a rookie tournament and most those guys won't be in NHL this year.

However, here is his last 3 years against his peers

View attachment 907745

Most goals, most points, all star teams. Then 100 points as a teenager in the AHL. Then the AHL all star team. He's clearly at the top of his class amongst his peers as he always ended those tournaments on top scoring wise. Goes to AHL and kills it.

I'm reading he's not good enough for NHL and I'm saying that another year in AHL won't really help him and may flatline him. Buffalo is in very dangerous territory of developing a tweener. If they have no room for him, I'd explore the trade market and try to get full value for him now. I guarantee there are teams that would welcome him into the lineup with open arms. Wait a year and the return goes down.

I honestly don't know where he can go. If he were a D, no problem and keep plugging away in AHL Jiri!

I'd love him on line 3 with McLeod to start. However, McLeod is no offensive dynamo. He looks absolutely amazing and you'll love him but the eye test and points never match up.
The bolded sounds like hyperbole.

Kulich needed to work on his two-way game. He had a pretty big dip in play during the season last year, then turned it around the last third of the season or so. The entire team was outmanned in the playoffs against Syracuse. If not for Levi, they get swept in a terrible fashion. Kulich is/was still learning the physical and mental toll of playing against grown ass men.

He has a wicked shot, so the goals are going to come in the A regardless of his two-way, but there's little doubt among Sabres fans and management that he needed to round out his game before making the show. And I don't think that's going to stunt his development. If anything, forcing him into the line-up to go through his growing pains could have stunted his growth. Buffalo fans saw this firsthand with Thompson and Mitts a few years ago.
 
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Dubi Doo

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View attachment 907831

Had to look.. so this is the top 6 from last year. Not one .ppg player. Didn't make playoffs. This is not an untouchable top 6. For a comparison, I am an Oilers fan.. here are our top 6 forwards

View attachment 907833

And I wouldn't even call that an untouchable top 6.lol

Serious question... was someone missing from Sabres last year and that is why the point totals are so low? Tuch was 94th in league scoring. What happened? Injuries, key guys out?
I think the issue is, you're stat watching a bit. I've watched my fair of games of the Amerks. Kulich absolutely needed more time to develop. He wasn't better than any of those guys listed last year. The only argument is Skinner, but he was ok to begin the year, then fell off a cliff in the last third of the season, but the Amerks were in the thick of the playoff race while the Sabres were treading water at that point. The Sabres made the business decision to keep him in Rochester as a focal point in their playoff hunt, and it paid off.

As a comparable, Benson made the team as an 18-year-old straight out of camp last year because his two-way game is well above his years and he battles like a rabid dog, so it's not as if Buffalo isn't open to the idea of a young player grabbing an NHL spot. Kulich just needed to work on things that are NEEDED at the NHL level, and by all accounts- he's been working hard on those areas. They also have been keen on developing him as a C, which we all know comes with more defensive responsibility.

He'll be fine, and Buffalo certainly is not trading him unless it's a Savoie like trade, and even then- after trading Savoie- I think they'd be pretty hesitant to trade him at all. His offensive output is just too enticing, as you pointed out. Kid could legit be a 40+ goal scorer at the next level who also has a good work ethic. Those types of players don't grow on trees!
 

Satanphonehome

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Does the Kulich lobby think a 45-point AHLer has a shot at pushing past a 47-point NHLer like Dylan Cozens as a rookie? Even when Cozens scored 31 in the NHL a year previous?

Or Jack Quinn, who paced for close to 30/30 in a season cut short by injury? And was a far more dominant player than Kulich as D+2 AHLer?

I mean they're right, I guess. If Kulich is as good as either of those guys, he will make the team easily. And he will also easily win rookie of the year.
 

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