Rd 1, #28 Jiri Kulich (C)

[Taro T]

4 minutes ago, sabresparaavida said:

I'd have to agree, Hard to see him outperforming Quinn's performance of last year in the AHL, and we are a deeper team this year. 

Quinn's look got messed up due to the injury & then them saving 1 non-emegency call-up at the end.

Doubt Kulich get much, if any, time w/ the Sabres this season; but not basing it on Quinn's experience last year.

[sabresparaavida]

18 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Quinn's look got messed up due to the injury & then them saving 1 non-emegency call-up at the end.

Doubt Kulich get much, if any, time w/ the Sabres this season; but not basing it on Quinn's experience last year.

Replace Quinn with Peterka in that statement then. The Sabres had a lot of injuries last year, and Peterka got called up and played 2 games. The sabres were a considerably less deep team last season, as they iced the worst line in hockey for a stretch (which was well documented here, if you recall the thread on Hayden-Eakin?-Bjork). Despite that, Quinn and Peterka who were dominating the AHL in their D+2 seasons (to a rare degree) only played 2 NHL games. Now, the Sabres are deeper and hopefully have less injury problems. *Knock on wood* I doubt that Kulich would get playing time on the Sabres in his D+1 season. 

[Taro T]

21 minutes ago, sabresparaavida said:

Replace Quinn with Peterka in that statement then. The Sabres had a lot of injuries last year, and Peterka got called up and played 2 games. The sabres were a considerably less deep team last season, as they iced the worst line in hockey for a stretch (which was well documented here, if you recall the thread on Hayden-Eakin?-Bjork). Despite that, Quinn and Peterka who were dominating the AHL in their D+2 seasons (to a rare degree) only played 2 NHL games. Now, the Sabres are deeper and hopefully have less injury problems. *Knock on wood* I doubt that Kulich would get playing time on the Sabres in his D+1 season. 

And Peterka was in over his head in his 2 game call-up IMHO.

Would he still have been in over his head at the end of the year?  Personally doubt it, but with Adams saving his 1 call-up, we'll never know.

[Amerks8796]

1 hour ago, thewookie1 said:

My guess is they'll give him a few games and see if he can fit in; otherwise they have a European team for him to play for and continue to slow-cook

It took Peterka half a season to really adjust and take off last year. They’re not going to give him a handful of games to adjust to a new league and then kill his confidence by shuttling him off elsewhere. 

Edited August 18, 2022 by Amerks8796

[Taro T]

30 minutes ago, Amerks8796 said:

It took Peterka half a season to really adjust and take off last year. They’re not going to give him a handful of games to adjust to a new league and then kill his confidence by shuttling him off elsewhere. 

Yeah.  The only way he gets loaned to Europe or the Q (that's where the Jr team w/ his rights plays, right?) is if we are well past US Thanksgiving and he simply isn't getting it at all.  Meaning he's getting scratched nightly or only a couple of shifts/ period/game, which just doesn't seem to be in the cards.

[French Collection]

2 hours ago, Amerks8796 said:

It took Peterka half a season to really adjust and take off last year. They’re not going to give him a handful of games to adjust to a new league and then kill his confidence by shuttling him off elsewhere. 

I see a parallel to Peterka’s year and keep in mind Kulich is a year younger than JJP was. The Czech boys in Rochester will help the transition as well.

I see the Q (Cape Breton) as option #2 if he isn’t ready for the AHL. He could work on his English , get a feel for the smaller ice surface and be a go to guy in that league.

I would only send him back to Czechia if he was lonely. Playing against men would help him develop too but I think this kid wants to be in N.Am.

[Thorner]

4 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

Kulich, Rosen, Kisakov, Cederqvist would be an interesting group for Rochester.

One of these things not like the other..

[DarthEbriate]

I've got Kulich written in as my 3C in Rochester to start the year. And 4C if they decide Biro is going to get a look at center and to keep him protected a bit. He'll have his ups and downs. By season's end (when Levi signs in Buffalo and earns a shutout or four)... Reinhart will still be fine, but it'll look like the greatest Sabre trade in recent memory.

[Pimlach]

4 hours ago, French Collection said:

I see a parallel to Peterka’s year and keep in mind Kulich is a year younger than JJP was. The Czech boys in Rochester will help the transition as well.

I see the Q (Cape Breton) as option #2 if he isn’t ready for the AHL. He could work on his English , get a feel for the smaller ice surface and be a go to guy in that league.

I would only send him back to Czechia if he was lonely. Playing against men would help him develop too but I think this kid wants to be in N.Am.

Work on his English while in the Q?  That ain’t happening.  

[French Collection]

6 hours ago, Pimlach said:

Work on his English while in the Q?  That ain’t happening.  

Cape Breton is his Q team, there are almost no French people in that town. The roster has more English speaking players than French.

The other communities in the Maritimes that are primarily English speaking are Halifax, Saint John, Charlottetown and Moncton. Moncton is closer to 50/50.

 

 

 

 

[LGR4GM]

 

[French Collection]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

 

Half of those are nice shots, sniper goals. He skates well, breaks away from pressure.

[Flashsabre]

2 more assists so far today for Kulich

[French Collection]

52 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

2 more assists so far today for Kulich

Both were primary assists. Five points in the two playoff games for him. Playing for bronze tomorrow.

[Doohicksie]

6 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

 

A handful of those were "in the right place at the right time" goals- puck coming to him off mad scrambles and rebounds.  I hope that translates into the NHL.

[nfreeman]

By the by:  does anyone know why attendance at those games seemed like it was below 5% pretty much every game?

[dudacek]

3 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

By the by:  does anyone know why attendance at those games seemed like it was below 5% pretty much every game?

Summer, the sense it wasn’t a “real” tournament, the Hockey Canada scandal and the lack of media hype (tied in part I’m sure to the scandal) are the reasons most commonly cited.

High prices and a sales campaign that forced you to buy multiple games to get the one or ones you wanted also apparently discouraged people as well.

[nfreeman]

12 hours ago, dudacek said:

Summer, the sense it wasn’t a “real” tournament, the Hockey Canada scandal and the lack of media hype (tied in part I’m sure to the scandal) are the reasons most commonly cited.

High prices and a sales campaign that forced you to buy multiple games to get the one or ones you wanted also apparently discouraged people as well.

 But Kris Baker’s tweet said “last season in Czechia’s top men’s league” — not at the WJC.  

[dudacek]

14 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

 But Kris Baker’s tweet said “last season in Czechia’s top men’s league” — not at the WJC.  

Sorry misread your post; I know nothing about Czech league attendance.

[Flashsabre]

13 hours ago, nfreeman said:

By the by:  does anyone know why attendance at those games seemed like it was below 5% pretty much every game?

If you watch a couple of Neuchev’s highlights from the past few days in the KHL in Russia they are playing in empty arenas over there. Maybe the European countries still have Covid protocols in place. I don’t know.

 

[LGR4GM]

"Jiri Kulich, LW, Buffalo

As with Kemell, Kulich was average at this tournament before it was cancelled in December, but he was all of a sudden a go-to player in this event and a statistical leader for Czechia. Kulich showed the speed, skill and scoring ability that made him a recent first-round pick but was also strong on pucks and wasn’t physically overwhelmed by going up against older players."

https://theathletic.com/3523855/2022/08/20/iihf-world-junior-championship-2022?source=user-shared-article

Corey Pronman 

[bg17]

The Athletic link above led me to read Pronman’s two-round mock draft he put together with an “NHL source”. Topias Leinonen went 34th. Mildly interesting. 

[Doohicksie]

 

[Brawndo]

 

[Buffalonill]

14 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

 

Whats the time line to be ready now? 2 years ?