Performance in World Juniors gave Jiri Kulich a great foundation to build on

Last Friday night, after chipping in a goal and an assist during the Rochester Amerks’ 6-2 throttling of the first-place Toronto Marlies, rookie center Jiri Kulich elicited a few laughs in the post-game interview room.

Kulich, the Buffalo Sabres’ first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, was asked about a decision he made during the game when he elected to shoot on an odd-man rush instead of passing.

“If I go on a breakaway I always try to shoot because I’m not a skilled player,” he said in limited but improving English.

Wait a minute. What?

Asked to clarify, he repeated that he’s not a skilled player, meaning he’s better off keeping it simple and shooting rather than trying to get fancy making a pass.

There’s a reason why the Sabres selected the native of Czechia No. 28 overall last year. It’s the same reason why Kulich was one of the most outstanding players in the World Junior Championships which were held during the Christmas-New Years week.

He’s without question one of the most skilled players his age in the world, and all you had to do was watch the World Junior Championship tournament which was hosted by Canada during the Christmas-New Years week.

Generational talent Connor Bedard, who will undoubtedly be the No. 1 overall pick in the coming 2023 NHL Draft, dominated the tournament as he scored nine goals and a record 23 points to lead Canada to the championship. Kulich could not match those numbers, but he was a dynamo for Czechia as he scored seven goals (tied for second in the tournament) and nine points in seven games, guiding his team into the gold medal game for the first time since 2001.

In a 9-1 quarterfinal blowout over Switzerland, Kulich had two goals and two assists. In the semifinals, he scored the game-winning goal in overtime as Czechia defeated Sweden 2-1. And then in the championship game against the powerful Canadians, Czechia was down 2-0 midway through the third when Kulich and teammate Jakob Kus scored 54 seconds apart to send the game to overtime.

Canada’s Dylan Guenther - who has played half of this season in the NHL with the Arizona Coyotes - ultimately won it, but Kulich said upon returning to the Amerks, “Our country was so proud of us.”

Amerks coach Seth Appert, as well as the rest of the Sabres organization, looked on with glee watching Kulich - the youngest player on the Amerks roster as he turns 19 in April - build on what he has already learned and accomplished in his first half season in the AHL.

“I think for him and Isak (Rosen, one of Buffalo’s first-round picks in 2021 who played for Sweden in the World Juniors), it was confirmation that what they’re doing here is working, and so that just gives you a belief and confidence,” Appert said. “I think they believed it was working but it’s hard sometimes in the American League, there’s a reason they call it the jungle. It’s a hard environment.”

That’s because there are so many levels of individual competition taking place each night in the AHL as opposed to the NHL where the primary goal and focus is team-oriented: Win the game.

“Sometimes the American League can be harder than the NHL,” Appert said. “It’s physical and everybody’s fighting for their life. Prospects (like Kulich) are fighting to get up (to the NHL), the call-up guys (from the ECHL) are fighting to stay here, older guys are fighting to extend their careers.

“It’s a hard league and he had glimpses of success in that first couple months. I think going to the World Juniors and dominating and being one of the best players in the whole tournament as an underage - he’s still a young player in that tournament - I think for him, it gave him kind of affirmation that all the work he’s putting in here is actually paying off.”

Despite Kulich saying that he’s not a skilled player, he absolutely is. What he is not, however, is a big player as he stands 5-foot-11 and weighs only 172 pounds. There are many Sabres followers who will say that 21-year-old Jack Quinn is struggling to make an impact in Buffalo as a rookie this year because even at 6-1 and 185, his body isn’t ready for the nightly grind.

Kulich - who tied last Sunday’s game against Syracuse late in the third period with his 12th goal of the season - is smaller, so he’s going to need time to get stronger before the Sabres bring him up. The good news is that Appert has seen his grit and compete level improve as the season has gone on.

“Jiri’s on-the-puck competitiveness has grown a ton,” Appert said. “He stays on the puck more, he goes and hunts the puck. Most of the players that come here young as high picks, they have an offensive acumen, but there’s usually other parts of their game missing. Those parts of their game were never that important when you’re playing U-20 hockey or U-18 hockey, junior, college, whatever it is.

“You’re that talented and you can get away with not doing those things because usually the puck’s gonna just come back to you magically. Now at this level and above, it doesn’t so you have to work to get it and then really value it when you have it. He’s playing center and he’s 18 years old. It’s just incredibly impressive. He gets better every week, he keeps growing his game and his work ethic is very impressive.”

Another busy weekend for Amerks

Last weekend the Amerks faced their first grueling three-games-in-three-days set of the season. This weekend, they face their second.

Friday night they host Laval, the team that eliminated them from the Calder Cup playoffs last season with a puck drop of 7:05 p.m. The Rocket sit in fourth place in the North Division, one point ahead of the Amerks so it’s a big game. It’s also the last home game until Friday, March 10 as the next five will be played away from Blue Cross Arena.

Saturday the Amerks head to Springfield and then Sunday, they face a brutal test when they play at Atlantic Division leader Providence whose 10 regulation losses are second-fewest in the AHL.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana.To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which will come out every Friday during the offseason, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Jiri Kulich flashing his skills in rookie AHL season with Amerks