Buffalo Sabres Tyler Ennis’ Season To Forget
Buffalo Sabres forward Tyler Ennis missed most of the 2015-2016 NHL season due to injury, making it essentially, a season to forget.
It was no doubt a disappointing season for the Buffalo Sabres forward, who ended up appearing in just 23 of the team’s 82 regular-season games.
The season started off well, with Ennis playing at a regular rate in October and through most of November.
From there, however, things seemed to go downhill for the Buffalo Sabres forward.
He suffered an upper-body injury and was listed as week-to-week, eventually returning to practice with his team in mid-December.
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He returned to the lineup on December 19 against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Just 11 days later, Ennis sustained another upper-body injury in the December 30th game against the Washington Capitals after being on the receiving end of a hit by Alex Ovechkin.
Once again, he was listed as week-to-week.
He returned to skating – but not team practices – in early February, and it was eventually announced that the Buffalo Sabres forward had a concussion.
Ennis finally returned to practices in April, donning the red no-contact jersey once again, but didn’t return to game action before the season’s end.
So when all was said and done, Ennis registered 11 points – three goals, eight assists – in just 23 games played, with his last game coming on December 30.
The Buffalo Sabres forward still has three years left on his current contract, and the hope is (obviously) that he’s good to return to full playing status when October rolls around. For a while, it appeared that Ennis could’ve made his return toward the end of the season, but that never happened.
One thing for the Buffalo Sabres – and Ennis – to consider between now and October is certainly conditioning.
At this point, we’re looking at roughly 10 months between NHL games for Ennis – which is a significant amount of time, even when you take the offseason into consideration.
I’m no doctor, but you naturally want to make sure a guy is in full playing shape before he suits up for a game, so it’ll be important for both the Sabres and Ennis to make sure that happens to avoid either a) him looking completely out of place or b) his getting further hurt.
Just look at Robin Lehner, who was hurt in the season-opener and eventually returned some months later, but not before a conditioning stint in the AHL – and that was only a small handful of months, not ten as it will be in Ennis’ situation.
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The hope is, of course, that Ennis will be 100 percent healthy when October rolls around with the Buffalo Sabres – and that he can STAY that way next season, He certainly has the potential to produce well offensively, but it’s hard to do that if you can’t stay healthy.
Here’s to hoping…..