22-year-old winger has been out two months with a lower-body injury
The Buffalo Sabres enter a five-game homestand against the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday six points in back of the Washington Capitals for the last Eastern Conference playoff spot, but saw an encouraging sign on Tuesday, as winger Jack Quinn participated in practice for the first time since having surgery on a lower-body injury just before the All-Star break.
The 22-year-old winger was expected to be out up to eight weeks injured in San Jose on January 27th, but head coach Don Granato indicated that Quinn has been ramping up while the Sabres were on their five-game Western road swing, and on Tuesday he skated with center Dylan Cozens and winger J-J Peterka.
“It’s great to see (Jack) back, he's a great guy in that room and to have around," Cozens said after practice. "He's huge for this team, for morale and everything. Guys love having around. So it's been a weird year not having around much this year."
Quinn was expected to take a big step after a 37-point rookie season and playing well in a gold medal-winning effort for Canada at the World Championships last May, but everything was derailed after suffering an Achilles injury in off-ice training just before the NHL Draft in late June.
The Ottawa native returned early from the six-month recovery time and showed little signs of rust when he got back into the Sabres lineup in late December, scoring 12 points (5 goals, 7 assists) in 17 games. After missing another two months due to injury, Quinn is anxious to get back into the lineup and help the club make a late-season push.
"I'll talk to him after (practice), but he's very close. I would say he is officially day-to-day." Granato said. "Just look at the numbers he produces and we produce when he's in lineup. It makes everybody else better because now there's one more highly talented scorer that's dangerous that the other team has to pay attention to."
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