Sabres’ Jiri Kulich placed on injured reserve

The Buffalo Sabres have placed center Juri Kulich on injured reserve, as was reported Thursday by Rachel Lenzi of the Buffalo News.

Kulich has missed Buffalo’s last two games with an issue related to fluid in his ears. In 12 games this season, the Kadan, Czechia native has put up three goals and two assists for five points while averaging 16:22 of ice time per game.

Selected 28th overall by the Sabres in the 2022 Draft, Kulich is now in his second full NHL season. As a 20-year-old rookie last year, he scored 15 goals to go along with nine assists for 24 total points in 62 games played. Prior to joining the Sabres, Kulich spent the majority of his first two seasons in North America with the AHL’s Rochester Americans, where he tallied a total of 91 points in a combined 119 games played.

Kulich is certainly one of the young Buffalo players, along with the likes of Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, and Noah Ostlund, that fans and management alike are hoping will form a nucleus that will eventually bring this franchise back to the postseason for the first time since 2011.

It’s still too early to project whether this will be the season the Sabres break their playoff drought. Buffalo currently sits tied for fifth place in the Atlantic Division, having earned 14 points in 13 games. That puts them just one point ahead of the Florida Panthers for last place in the Eastern Conference, but only five points behind the Montreal Canadiens for first place in the conference.

The Sabres will finish up a three-game homestand against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, and then head out for a four-game road trip starting with the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, followed by the Utah Mammoth next Wednesday.