Expectations were all over the place for the Buffalo Sabres coming into the 2024-25 season, but everyone around the league felt sure that Jack Quinn would be the breakout candidate to watch. Almost a year removed from a ruptured Achilles, pundits felt strongly that Quinn would continue his positive development.
Instead, the Sabres had yet another disappointing season, and Quinn may have been the poster child. A cursory look at his stats won’t reveal the entire story, either. He may have one of the more interesting player report cards of anyone.
Massively Disappointing Start
You can’t talk about Quinn or the 2024-25 season without talking about the start. The Sabres had an okay start, but he was a non-entity for the first two months of the season. In his first 23 games, he scored just once and had five points to his name.
The fall-off was unfathomable. When he got hurt again – remember, he missed most of the 2023-24 season with a prior knee injury – Quinn had nine goals and 19 points in 27 games (0.70 points per game). He passed the eye test, too, showing flashes of potential as a lethal scorer.
For Quinn to have such a drastic regression over his first 23 games was a shock to everyone, most of all Quinn. It’s one thing not to have numbers but to show signs of life. Quinn just didn’t look like he wanted to be out there, and it showed.
Signs of Encouragement Down the Stretch
If anything, 2024-25 was a tale of two seasons. Eventually, Quinn started becoming noticeable in a good way. He was showing the ability to find open creases again. He was putting good shots on net again. Most importantly, he just looked “alive” in a way he hadn’t over the first two months of the season.
Related: Buffalo Sabres 2024-25 Player Report Card: Ryan McLeod
Over the final 51 games of his season, Quinn scored 14 goals and registered 34 points. That’s not earth-shattering, but it is a lot closer in terms of points per game (0.66) to what he was doing in 2023-24 (0.70). One factor to consider is his Achilles.
It takes anywhere from 6-12 months to fully recover from an Achilles injury, which would have put Quinn right around the start of the season to be a year removed from the injury. It no doubt takes time for a high-level athlete to find consistency and comfort in their game again. The million-dollar question is, “Was Quinn just finding himself in…
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