Buffalo Sabres O’Reilly, McGinn Return to Colorado
When the Buffalo Sabres hit the ice at the Pepsi Center in Denver on Wednesday night, it’ll be a “homecoming” of sorts for two players: Ryan O’Reilly and Jamie McGinn.
Both forwards came to the Buffalo Sabres via a trade that shipped out Nikita Zadorov, Mikhail Grigorenko, prospect J.T. Compher and the 31st pick in the 2015 NHL Draft.
That pick would be flipped to San Jose in exchange for three draft picks.
For O’Reilly, the Buffalo Sabres are just his second NHL team; he was drafted by the Avalanche 33rd overall in 2009. McGinn’s NHL journey began in San Jose after being drafted by the Sharks 36th overall in 2006; he then went to Colorado and now, of course, to Buffalo.
Both have found a reasonable amount of success with their new team in the Buffalo Sabres, but just how much success?
Here’s a look.
First, let’s examine Ryan O’Reilly’s play over the past few years.
Since 2009, he’s appeared in 427 NHL games with the Colorado Avalanche. In that time, he scored 90 goals and added 156 assists for 246 points.
That’s an average of 0.576 points per game.
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His best season came in the 2013-14 season, when he put up a career-high 64 points (28-36) in 80 games, averaging 0.8 points/game.
This season so far with the Buffalo Sabres, O’Reilly has managed 39 points (17-22) in just 46 games.
That amounts to an average of 0.848 points per game, meaning he’s on track for what could be the best season of his NHL career thus far.
If he keeps up his pace and plays all 82 games for the Buffalo Sabres this season, O’Reilly would end up with the first 30-goal season of his career.
He’d also notch a career-high 39 assists for a total projected 69 points, again, a career-high.
McGinn has also found success with the Buffalo Sabres this season, though perhaps not at quite the rates O’Reilly has.
He’s currently on pace to match his career-high in points, achieved in the 2013-14 season with the Avalanche.
Right now, McGinn has 21 points (10-11) in 46 games. If he keeps it up, he’ll finish the year with 18 goals and 20 assists – the assists would be a career-high – and 38 points total.
He’s averaging 0.457 points/game, significantly higher than last season (0.316) with the Avalanche, where he had six points in 19 games.
McGinn’s best season (statistically) saw him put up 13 points (8-5) in 17 games in the 2011-12 season with Colorado.
Of course, one stat of note is that McGinn has never played all 82 games in a season before – and right now, he’s on track to do just that with the Buffalo Sabres.
The last time he came close was appearing in 79 games with the Avalanche in 2013-14, the same year he registered 38 points.
Overall, McGinn averaged 0.488 points/game in his time with the Avalanche, and 0.24 points/game in his years with the Sharks prior to that.
He’s certainly been one of a handful of key contributors on the Buffalo Sabres this season, and that’s part of why many Sabres fans are calling for GM Tim Murray to either extend McGinn prior to July 1st, or try to re-sign him after that.
So now, both O’Reilly and McGinn return to Colorado to face their former team on Wednesday night — a team that, combined, they’ve played over 600 games for.
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What will they do against their former team? Stay tuned to Wednesday night’s game to find out.