Exciting Young Center Kulich Has Good Chance To Be Special N…

Weâ€re about to kick off the NHLâ€s 2025-26 season, and here on THN.comâ€s Buffalo Sabres site, weâ€re moving through our player-by-player series in which we analyze every Buffalo players†expectations this coming season.

We began this series by looking at the Sabres†goalies and defensemen, and their third line – including todayâ€s focus: center Jiri Kulich – looks like a bit of a dogâ€s breakfast of up-and-coming talent (Kulich and left winger Jack Quinn) and gritty, low-scoring right winger Jordan Greenway. So the expectations on Kulich should be reasonable as to what he can accomplish. But hereâ€s our best guess as to what is reasonable for Kulich in ‘25-26:

Player Name: Jiri Kulich

Position: Center

Age: 21

2024-25 Key Statistics: 62 games, 15 goals, 24 points, 14:48 average time on ice

2025-26 Salary: $886,666

2025-26 Expectations: Kulich is entering his sophomore NHL season, and while his first year wasnâ€t worthy of the Calder Trophy as the NHLâ€s rookie-of-the-year, the 21-year-old Czechia native did get to the 15-goal mark – with all the goals coming at even-strength – in very limited minutes in only 62 games. Thatâ€s something to build on this coming season, but Kulich is going to be starting the year centering Buffaloâ€s third line.

We can see Kulich and Quinn having success on offense. Greenway – a tougher player who doesnâ€t contribute many goals or assists – is another story. So itâ€s going to be on Quinn and Kulich to generate offense for the Sabres and start to challenge upper-tier Sabres players for playing time on the line above them in Buffalo.

That said, Kulich has only dipped his toe in hockeyâ€s top league. Heâ€s nowhere close to his prime, but a season in which Kulich produced, say, 20-25 goals and 30-40-point next season would be considered an enormous success. 

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So long as heâ€s able to get near those areas, Kulichâ€s status as a Sabre isnâ€t going to be challenged no matter how Buffalo does in the standings. Heâ€s young, heâ€s not making very much money (less than $867,000 per year), and heâ€s under team financial control for this year, next year and his RFA years after that. 

Thus, Kulich will likely survive any change in Sabres coaching or administration. He needs to put forth at least as many points as he did last year, but he also needs to make Buffaloâ€s third line a legitimate danger. Thatâ€s what the Sabres are going to need to be a playoff team.

Unfortunately, making the third line an above-average group has been a tall task for many Sabres players before him, but Kulich canâ€t be properly judged until thereâ€s a decent sample size to judge him by. And that means he deserves the benefit of the doubt entering his sophomore season. But make no mistake – thereâ€s pressure there for Kulich to take a step forward in ‘25-26. If he reacts positively to it, the pressure on Buffaloâ€s top two lines will diminish, and it will take some of the heat off their defense as well.

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Kulich could be a big-time member of a Sabres renaissance. By the end of last season, he was centering a line with Buffaloâ€s top scorer, star winger Tage Thompson. But Kulichâ€s two-way game is whatâ€s most encouraging about his game, and if heâ€s effective at both ends of the ice, the Sabres are going to have a good shot at ending their playoff drought and giving Buffalonians a team to take pride in again. 

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