You are here
Home > 2022-23 Amerks >

Key prospects are stepping up for the Amerks as the team remains inconsistent overall

by Chad DeDominicis - 0

The Buffalo Sabres are not the only inconsistent team in the organization. The Rochester Amerks have followed in the big club’s footsteps. They ended February gaining 9 of the remaining 12 points. However, since March 1st, they’ve lost five of six.

The Amerks have 16 games remaining in their season and are currently in a playoff spot. They’re fourth in the North Division with 59 points. As a reminder, the top five teams in the division get into the AHL playoffs.

It’ll be a tight race down the stretch. The Amerks are only two points up on the sixth-place Belleville Senators and three points on the last-place Cleveland Monsters. They do have three games in hand on the Senators but have played the same amount of games as the Monsters. If they don’t find some consistency down the stretch they could fall right out of the top five.

This is also a reason that it would be rather unlikely we’ll see anyone of significance get a look with the Sabres to end the season. Kevyn Adams would likely stick to the approach he held last season that those players will be better suited pushing for the playoffs in the AHL.

Kulich and Rousek are Hot

Moving to the players themselves, two Sabres prospects have been playing well in Rochester. Jiri Kulich is currently on a huge run since the end of January. He has 18 points in his last 19 games.

With Chase Priskie’s departure, Kulich has jumped to the top of the team in primary shot contributions at 5 on 5 in our tracking data.

He’s a high-volume shooter and remains one of the key players of the Amerks transition game.

My favorite part of Kulich’s transition impact is that not only does he enter the zone with control the overwhelming majority of the time, but his controlled entries result in shot opportunities at a greater rate than anyone on the team. You can see in the Z-Score chart below that along with Hinostroza, they’re way ahead of the rest of the team in controlled entries.

The next step in Kulich’s development is going to find scoring opportunities in a cycle. That is something that we’ve seen JJ Peterka struggle with as a rookie in the NHL. I’ve noticed he’s starting to find space in the offensive zone over the last few games when the defense is set. We’ll want to see that continue throughout the rest of the season.

Lukas Rousek is another player that is playing well right now. He’s an older prospect at 23 years old, but there could be some NHL ability there. He scored a “goal scorers goal” against the Harford Wolfpack on Friday.

He followed that up with a multi-point night against the Toronto Marlies yesterday. His first goal was a quick release on the power play.

He had an assist late in the game with good vision finding Isak Rosen.

It’s not just the production that makes him stand out when you watch him. He’s one of the better forecheckers on the team. Rousek is good along the wall and works to get pucks back to extend offensive possessions.

With only a month in the season, I thought it would be interesting to see how players are tracking in production. Below is the current production pace for the entire roster and points per games played.

Brandon Biro is on pace to lead the team in points and Rousek is on pace for 61 points in his first full AHL season.

Kulich and Rosen are having good rookie seasons from a production standpoint. Kulich could end the season leading the team in goals and a 0.7 points per game rate is one of the top 10 seasons in history for a D+1 rookie in the AHL.

Rosen, on the other hand, Is on pace for 14 goals and 39 points. That is better than what I expected for the 2021 first-round pick. I thought that he would struggle at times but has shown this level is not too much for him.

It’ll be fun to follow the Amerks for the last 16 games of the season. They could have a new goaltender arriving in the next week or so with Devon Levi’s collegiate season being over.

Photo Credit: Micheline Veluvolu/Rochester Americans
Top