BUFFALO – As the months passed and he remained sidelined by a blood clot, Sabres center Jiri Kulich said he kept asking himself if he would be able to play hockey again.
“It was kind of a roller coaster,” he said this afternoon during his end-of-season media availability in KeyBank Center.
Then two months ago, Kulich, 22, said he underwent a procedure at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, to have the entire clot removed.
“Now, I’m just excited, working hard again to be on the ice, too,” the Czech said. “Yeah, I’ll be able to play hockey again.”
Kulich, who was expected to be a significant contributor following a 15-goal rookie season, last played Nov. 1 and missed the final 83 games, counting the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
When he left the lineup, he figured he might miss a month or two.
“I felt like I’m going to be able to play hockey this season,” said Kulich, who scored three goals and five points in 12 games this season.
As the Sabres took off in December and morphed into one of the NHL’s elite teams, Kulich regularly skated by himself, doing light on-ice work.
“I was going to be ready for playing hockey, but unfortunately, it was still there,” he said of the clot.
Finally, Kulich learned he needed to have the clot removed.
“I needed a procedure to finally be normal, I would say,” he said.
Following the procedure – “They treated me really, really nice, and I don’t really know how to thank them,” he said – Kulich couldn’t skate for a month. Now, he’s in fourth week back on the ice.
“I think it’s going well,” he said. “I was kind of heavy, too, I gained some weight. It’s nice to lose some and be back on the ice. I would say I can do pretty much everything right now.”
As he watched the Sabres enjoy one of the most memorable seasons in franchise history, Kulich said his teammates treated him “like family.”
Sometimes, of course, players recovering from an injury or illness don’t see the team much and don’t feel a part of things.
“Even when I felt like I’m not part of this team because I’m not playing, they just treated me that I’m part of this team, and that helped me a lot this year,” Kulich said. “I was just trying to spend, as much as I can, time with the boys.
“It was just awesome to watch them having so much fun, just jump on the ice and compete how they competed. How they were playing, it was great to watch.”