Why isn't Kulich up?

[Flashsabre]

13 hours ago, RochesterExpat said:

100% agree with this.

The other issue I've noticed Kulich is his pace of play. He isn't consistent and that's common for his age. It's also weirdly something I've noticed more with European imports. He's already shown improvement over last season and he certainly improved during the course of his rookie year, but he still needs to mature in that regard. It's better for him in the long-term to play more minutes in Rochester than to play 9-12 minutes in a handful of games in the NHL as an injury call up. The pace of play impacts his complete game development as well.

He has tremendous chemistry with Rosen. Another JJ-Quinn pairing. They are best friends too.

I think they would like to bring them up together at a point in time where it is a permanent promotion. 

Rosen is a year older and is the much more polished all around player. He sets Kulich up for a lot of his goals.

I don’t feel a rush to call him up. Let him marinate another year.

I will say he is one of the best young goal scorers I have seen. What he is doing in the AHL at 18 and 19 is ridiculous. A tremendous pick for the organization.

[JohnC]

19 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

He has tremendous chemistry with Rosen. Another JJ-Quinn pairing. They are best friends too.

I think they would like to bring them up together at a point in time where it is a permanent promotion. 

Rosen is a year older and is the much more polished all around player. He sets Kulich up for a lot of his goals.

I don’t feel a rush to call him up. Let him marinate another year.

I will say he is one of the best young goal scorers I have seen. What he is doing in the AHL at 18 and 19 is ridiculous. A tremendous pick for the organization.

I want to thank you and the other followers ( @inkman, @K-9 and others) who keep us informed on the Amerks and their players. All of you are doing us a service. 🍺

[French Collection]

22 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

He has tremendous chemistry with Rosen. Another JJ-Quinn pairing. They are best friends too.

I think they would like to bring them up together at a point in time where it is a permanent promotion. 

Rosen is a year older and is the much more polished all around player. He sets Kulich up for a lot of his goals.

I don’t feel a rush to call him up. Let him marinate another year.

I will say he is one of the best young goal scorers I have seen. What he is doing in the AHL at 18 and 19 is ridiculous. A tremendous pick for the organization.

I think he and Rosen get a call up as an attaboy later on.

Biro, Rousek are short term fill ins who don’t require more development. Kulich and Rosen will get a taste but are future NHLers.

Benson forced his way in and is now being slow cooked, Savoie will get a look too. These two are in a different scenario than Kulich/Rosen due to the CHL.

[GASabresIUFAN]

The OP asks why not Kulich?  The answer is simple, management wants to know about the veteran prospects like Biro & Rousek and is still juggling Benson and Savoie.  

There is still concern about Kulich’s and Rosen’s 200 foot games.

[lowsabre]

He's too kul

[mjd1001]

I'm good with waiting a bit on him. Let him really dominate the AHL for more than a couple weeks this year.  If a first or 2nd liner for the Sabres goes down then sure, plug him in.  

[Archie Lee]

Tough crowd when it comes to Okposo.  He played 17 minutes last night. He plays an important role on what is at the moment one of the league's top PK units.  Is our captain and, by all accounts, is one of the most respected leaders in the league. I haven't seen a noticeable drop off from last season.  Okposo, Krebs, Girgs (and Cozens) are tops among Sabres forwards in D-zone starts.

How many goals do people think 4th lines score? Boston?  Dallas?  NYR?  Colorado?  The answer so far this season is fewer than ours.   

 

 

 

Edited November 5, 2023 by Archie Lee

[Crusader1969]

2 hours ago, inkman said:

Doesn’t resemble Olofsson at all 

 

You are saying that he is also a one trick pony? 

[Gatorman0519]

Most of those kids need to stay in Rochester another year or two imo. 

[Crusader1969]

5 hours ago, inkman said:

Doesn’t resemble Olofsson at all 

 

Wait wait wait.  That clip only showed the last 3 seconds 

here is the full clip   I will say again. Yes they have a great shot but there is nothing else about Kulich that is Olofsson like 

 

[Doohickie]

Are you watching the same clip as the rest of us?

1. Retrieves loose puck
2. Takes it back toward the corner, drawing a defender
3. Passes back to the point man (who is open because the defender just followed Kulich down)
4. Finds the soft spot to receive the pass
5. One-times it for a goal.

VO doesn't execute 1, 2, or 3, and is not the best at 4.

[LabattBlue]

19 hours ago, Archie Lee said:

Tough crowd when it comes to Okposo.  He played 17 minutes last night. He plays an important role on what is at the moment one of the league's top PK units.  Is our captain and, by all accounts, is one of the most respected leaders in the league. I haven't seen a noticeable drop off from last season.  Okposo, Krebs, Girgs (and Cozens) are tops among Sabres forwards in D-zone starts.

How many goals do people think 4th lines score? Boston?  Dallas?  NYR?  Colorado?  The answer so far this season is fewer than ours.   

 

 

 

Agent or mother?

[LETSTUCHINGO]

On 11/4/2023 at 4:17 PM, Pimlach said:

He has 5 games to go.   I don’t see him quitting in the middle of the season. I hope he stays because no one else deserves the C right now.  Platooning him makes sense though and should be done now.  
 

Who deserves the C is the next question.  

Dahls and EJ can rock the "C" all day!

[RochesterExpat]

14 hours ago, Crusader1969 said:

here is the full clip   I will say again. Yes they have a great shot but there is nothing else about Kulich that is Olofsson like 

 

8 hours ago, Doohickie said:

Are you watching the same clip as the rest of us?

1. Retrieves loose puck
2. Takes it back toward the corner, drawing a defender
3. Passes back to the point man (who is open because the defender just followed Kulich down)
4. Finds the soft spot to receive the pass
5. One-times it for a goal.

VO doesn't execute 1, 2, or 3, and is not the best at 4.

The VO comparison is simply because they both have absurd shots and are "incomplete" players. It's not because Kulich doesn't forecheck and Kulich is far more defensively responsible than VO. It's not really a a good comparison but it's good enough to make the point that Kulich isn't ready for the NHL using a player from recent memory.

If we want to name a former Sabres player that's probably more similar to Kulich than VO is, it's probably Afinogenov, but I'm worried saying that is going to invoke rose-tinted glasses of the past and will open a can of worms from people who want to remember only the good times.

Afinogenov was a frustrating player to watch. When Afinogenov wanted to dominate a game he could. He absolutely could. He had the wheels and the positional sense of where to find holes in the defense. He could play responsibly in the defensive end and his forechecking was unreal for a player of his size in the era during which he played. He had all the pieces (except maybe stickhandling) but he never found the consistency to do everything all the time. He never managed to put everything together. He will forever be in Hall of What Could Have Been.

It's not a perfect comparison either for people who are going to start nitpicking. Afinogenov took stupid penalties and fumbled the puck a lot. Kulich does neither. I don't expect Kulich to be looking to scrum after every play and Kulich at least knows how to stickhandle.

But the comparison is true in the following:

- Inconsistent/immature play. Flashes of absolute absurd glory and then whole stretches of "was he even on the ice?"
- A lot of "unilateral" playing where he does too much on his own. Kulich absolutely does this. When he wants to score, he does some flashy stuff to get to the net. It's not always the right move and anyone who watched the Sabres 20 years ago has to remember "Afinogenov doing Afinogenov things" 
- Capable backchecker when he wants to be, but a lot of times Afinogenov would play too hard in the offensive zone and then disappear when the puck transitioned into the Sabres end because his in-game pace was imbalanced and he was running on empty
- Afinogenov never learned to balance himself in an "80% league" and was prone to very streaky behavior

I think Afinogenov was a difficult player to coach which is why he never took that next step. I don't think that's true for Kulich whatsoever and I think the Sabres development and coaching staff both see an opportunity for a superstar. It's better that he eats minutes in Rochester and works on his consistency than it is for him to be given sheltered minutes with Buffalo. I expect him to be in Buffalo before the end of the season because I believe he is a coachable player and working to improve--and everything he needs to fix is fixable. I just don't want another Afinogenov if we can get a Jason Pominville instead.

[Doohickie]

3 minutes ago, RochesterExpat said:

It's better that he eats minutes in Rochester and works on his consistency than it is for him to be given sheltered minutes with Buffalo.

I don't think I'd link him that closely to Afinogenov, but do agree with the above.

[MISabresFan]

I don't think they are learning much on defense in Rochester.  Leading the AHL in goals scored 43 and goals against 46.  Weissbach, Novikov, Clague, Mersch, Johnson, Kulich, Rosen are your plus minus leaders.

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, LETSTUCHINGO said:

Dahls and EJ can rock the "C" all day!

EJ is on a 1 year contract, not gonna happen. 

Dahlin or Tuch is more likely. 

[Crusader1969]

Don’t have access to the full article but here is the basic findings from the Expected Buffalo guys who tracked every shift 

“Jiri Kulich is ready for an opportunity in the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres and his defensive shortcomings are overblown.”

 

[French Collection]

Kulich will have to wait for his turn as a young prospect, Benson and Savoie are on a limited time frame so they get first crack.

[bob_sauve28]

 

[Rasmus_]

On 11/4/2023 at 11:25 AM, Crusader1969 said:

He is not Olofsson at all.  He is much more involved and built like a tank 

His play is a lot more refined than Olofsson is.  He's active in both zones. Olofsson has no defensive zone presence.

[LGR4GM]

2 hours ago, Rasmus_ said:

Olofsson has no defensive zone presence.

FTFY

[Flashsabre]

Kulich is a special goal scorer who likes to score big goals at big moments. 

I think a big positive is that Kulich and Rosen haven’t sulked from being sent down and have built on last year’s performances.

I thinks the Sabres have 3 sets of young duos: 

Quinn-Peterka

Kulich-Rosen

Savoie-Benson

that all have tremendous chemistry with each other.

[French Collection]

4 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

Quinn-Peterka

Kulich-Rosen

Savoie-Benson

that all have tremendous chemistry with each other.

Interesting take.

Kulich and Savoie can play C or wing so that may come into play.

Two of those pairs were developed in Rochester while the others have a few years of junior together.

Cozens has been good with Quinn & JJP but could work with WHL alumni Savoie & Benson. Mitts could work with either of those pairs.

Kulich and Rosen could use a guy like Greenway or Tuch.

I can’t wait for Quinn to get back and hopefully he can build on last year. I thought he could get 25-30 goals in a full season.

[Drag0nDan]

On 11/4/2023 at 4:17 PM, Pimlach said:

He has 5 games to go.   I don’t see him quitting in the middle of the season. I hope he stays because no one else deserves the C right now.  Platooning him makes sense though and should be done now.  
 

Who deserves the C is the next question.  

Dahlin?