Buffalo Sabres Ryan O’Reilly Set To Return – But Should He?

The Factor is set to return this week, but there’s reason to believe he should be shut down for the rest of the season.

The Buffalo Sabres will have a familiar face back in the lineup Wednesday evening when they host the Montreal Canadiens:

That’s right: Ryan O’Reilly will be back on the ice Wednesday evening after missing 11 games with a lower-body injury, which is good news for those fans who want to see the Buffalo Sabres win more games than they lose as the season winds down . . . and bad news for the 99% of us who wish to see the Sabres become a competitive playoff team within our lifetimes.

Reality check: the Sabres are 28-33-9. Should they win every game they have left on their schedule, they will finish 40-33-9, which would get the Sabres into the playoffs only if every team ahead of them in the standings played less than .500 hockey from here on out.

Second reality check: the Sabres are not going to win every game left on their schedule, and the rest of the Eastern Conference is not going to play sub-.500 hockey.   The Buffalo Sabres, therefore, will not be making the playoffs in 2016, which begs the question, why bring O’Reilly back now?

More from Sabre Noise

• 3 biggest standouts at Buffalo Sabres 2023 Prospects Challenge
• 3 takeaways from the Buffalo Sabres final Prospects Challenge game
• Buffalo Sabres experiment with lesser-known talent in loss to Pens
• Buffalo Sabres 75 Bold Predictions for 2023-24: Prediction 51
• Buffalo Sabres vs. Pittsburgh: A quick look at the Penguins prospects

Doesn’t this team know how to tank?!?

It’s understandable why O’Reilly wants to play – it’s natural for an athlete to want to get back out there.  But bringing The Factor back now does more harm than it does good.

For starters, it forces coach Dan Bylsma to have to scramble his lines.  With O’Reilly back, Bylsma is going to break up the line of Evander Kane, Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart in order to put Kane alongside O’Reilly.  This is a shame, as the Kane-Eichel-Reinhart line was starting to look like a dangerous combination, indeed.   I understand O’Reilly needs quality forwards alongside him, but with no pressing need to rush The Factor back, why not allow the young trio to continue developing chemistry as the season winds down?

Second, this puts O’Reilly at risk for further injury.  Sure, he MIGHT be completely healed – but knowing professional athletes like I sort of do, it’s more likely that O’Reilly just wants to get back on the ice and is satisfied that he is healed ENOUGH, rather than fully.  Every fan has seen too many athletes rush their return, only to wind up being injured worse than they were before.  How dumb are Bylsma, Tim Murray and the rest of the Sabres organization going to feel if O’Reilly winds up with a serious injury as a result of this move?

Finally – and for many fans, this is the most important factor to consider when it comes to The Factor’s return – O’Reilly makes the team better, and a better Sabres team is a team moving away from, not closer to, a lottery pick.  Like I said, the Buffalo Sabres are not going to rattle off 12-straight wins, but their chances of picking up a few extra victories increases with Ryan O’Reilly back on the ice.

The Toronto Maple Leafs were smart to shut down James van Riemsdyk and Joffrey Lupul back in February, as bringing them back this late in the season served no purpose whatsoever.  Clearly, the Buffalo Sabres have no intention of doing the same thing with Ryan O’Reilly, which is too bad, because the cons outweigh the pros too much to bring him back with only a dozen games left on the schedule.