Sabres Notes: Jiri Kulich looks forward to Sabres return
BUFFALO — As the months passed and he remained sidelined by a blood clot, Sabres center Jiri Kulich said he kept asking himself if he would be able to play hockey again. “It was kind of a roller coaster,” he said Tuesday during his end-of-season media availability in KeyBank Center. Then two months ago, Kulich, 22, said he underwent a procedure at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, to have the entire clot removed.
“Now, I’m just excited, working hard again to be on the ice, too,” the Czech said. “Yeah, I’ll be able to play hockey again. ” Kulich, who was expected to be a significant contributor following a 15-goal rookie season, last played Nov.
1 and missed the final 83 games, counting the Stanley Cup Playoffs. When he left the lineup, he figured he might miss a month or two. “I felt like I’m going to be able to play hockey this season,” said Kulich, who scored three goals and five points in 12 games this season.
As the Sabres took off in December and morphed into one of the NHL’s elite teams, Kulich regularly skated by himself, doing light on-ice work. “I was going to be ready for playing hockey, but unfortunately, it was still there,” he said of the clot. Finally, Kulich learned he needed to have the clot removed.
“I needed a procedure to finally be normal, I would say,” he said. Following the procedure – “They treated me really, really nice, and I don’t really know how to thank them,” he said – Kulich couldn’t skate for a month. Now, he’s in fourth week back on the ice.