BUFFALO – Jiri Kulich couldn’t stop smiling. Who cares if it was just an intrasquad scrimmage a few days into training camp? For the first time in since Nov. 1 – 322 days, to be exact – the Czech forward played alongside his Sabres teammates.
“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, 22, has endured a lot in the last 11 months. Fresh off an impressive rookie year in which he scored 15 goals and ended the season centering the No. 1 line, he played just 12 games in 2025-26.
When he left the lineup, he figured he might miss a month or two. At times, he wondered if he would ever played hockey again.
Finally, he had the clot removed in March.
Counting the Stanley Cup Playoffs, he missed the final 83 games.
Still, other than waiting until July to have on-ice contact – “The first couple months were tough,” he said – Kulich enjoyed a normal summer of training.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been that prepared like I am right now,” he said.
On Saturday, Kulich, a natural center, skated at left wing alongside center Sam Carrick and Beck Malenstyn on the fourth line.
“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.”
With a surfeit of centers, some of them – most notably Kulich, rookie Konsta Helenius and Ryan McLeod – have been skating as wingers.
“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.”
Ruff, who watched from a suite, said Kulich “looked more and more comfortable” as the scrimmage progressed.
“(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.”