The vitality of Jack Quinn's imminent return

Playoffs or not, the Buffalo Sabres getting one of their best players back is a big deal.

Jack Quinn stands at attention ahead of Sabres practice on Tuesday. (Photo: Joe Yerdon)

Coming back from one destructive injury is hard enough but doing it twice in the span of an NHL season is borderline cruel. Jack Quinn’s been down this road once already after he tore his Achilles tendon over the summer. That kind of experience made going through another brutal injury in the same left leg and rehabilitating a second time in months a lot to handle. It also made it almost routine this time around.

“It was easier because it was a lot less of an injury, way quicker timeline, stuff like that,” Quinn said on Tuesday. “The actual being out of the lineup is the same, it’s not easy.”

The entire season for Quinn has not been easy. Going back last June when he tore his Achilles tendon and the time put into surgery, recovery, rehab, and ultimately his return to play in mid-December, it was the kind of thing that went by both as a blur and yet an agonizing wait.

But with Quinn on the precipice of returning to action after a brutal lower-body injury he sustained against the San Jose Sharks in late-January, doing it all again with the aim of getting back to where he left off is the most important turn for him, and the Buffalo Sabres, with a few weeks left in the season.

“You know everything the kid’s gone through with injuries in the past two seasons, which is his career to this point, and you thought it was potential season-ending,” Sabres coach Don Granato said. “So, to see him come back and be able to play games right now is really significant, for him and for our team. Unfortunately, with some guys … sometimes it’s acclimating to the league and situations within the league, being able to protect yourself better, and I think that’s just part of a process for lots of guys. Part of being a younger player is adjusting the way you need to adjust sometimes, which I do think these guys do.

“It’s significant to have him back for us as a team and a franchise and certainly for him, where he’s at in his career.”