Sabres Head Coach Sends Wake Up Call to One Specific Player Amid Disaster Start to the Season

The Sabres are off to a disaster start to the 2025/26 NHL season, and now Lindy Ruff has sent a major message to Jiri Kulich after a rough start.

The Buffalo Sabres have been struggling for a long, long time, and unfortunately for their loyal fans, the start to the 2025/26 season simply hasn’t been good enough, with the team going 0-3-0 to this point in time.

Lindy Ruff Sends a Message to a Young Forward

The hope for Buffalo this year was for some young names to step up and make their mark, with 21-year old former first-round pick Jiri Kulich among those players, as he was given a chance at the top of the lineup.

However, after featuring as the 1C in their latest game, Head Coach Lindy Ruff has made a major statement, as he has now been demoted so far down the lineup that he’s likely to be a healthy scratch in their next game.

Ruff has not yet confirmed that Kulich will sit for Wednesday’s game against the Ottawa Senators, but with the top-nine centre group now made up of Thompson, McLeod and Krebs, it’s likely that he’ll miss the next game.

Ultimately, there’s still time for Kulich to grow at just 21-years of age, but with the pressure on the Sabres to perform and finally end their post-season drought, his early struggles don’t bode well for the 2025/26 campaign.