Pittsburgh Penguins conference rival in chaos after health emergency and surprise waiver move
Photo credit: Ottawa Life Magazine
The Buffalo Sabres are dealing with chaos today, as Jiri Kulich has suffered a blood clot that Lindy Ruff described as serious, while also waiving Carson Meyer.
A little before making this waiver move, the team also revealed that young 21-year-old centerman Jiri Kulich is suffering from a blood clot, and head coach Lindy Ruff described it as "pretty serious."
"It's related to a blood clot that was found," Ruff told reporters after practice. "I'm not going to go any further into detail, but pretty serious."
- Lindy Ruff
Jiri Kulich was playing very well on Buffalo's top line so far this season prior to this diagnosis
The 21-year-old, who is entering his second full season, was anchoring the Sabres' top line, but Kulich has now missed his team's past three games.
His most recent appearance came on Nov. 1 against the Washington Capitals when he had only 11:19 of ice time, unusually low for him.
Kulich has scored three goals and has five points in 12 games while averaging 16:21 in ice time so far this season.
Losing Kulich has implications for both the Sabres as well as Czechia's men's national team with the Winter Olympics, which is set to start Feb. 11 in Milan-Cortina, Italy.
The 2024-25 season saw Kulich, who was a first-round pick in 2022 by the Sabres, score 15 goals and 24 points over 65 games.
He was tied for seventh in goals on a Sabres team that finished second-last in the Atlantic Division. Only Boston was worse.
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