Ryan O'Reilly claims Player of the Week honors from NHLPA after 11-point week

With awesome nicknames comes great responsibility, and Ryan O'Reilly certainly lived up to that with his four-game week for the Nashville Predators and receiving NHLPA Player of the Week honors.

"The Factor" as O'Reilly is called, was without a doubt the factor for the Predators this season, and has been for the entirety of 2025-26.

Ryan O'Reilly is on his way to having one of the best seasons of his NHL career

O'Reilly is in the midst of having an incredible season, one of his best of his illustrious 17-year NHL career. He just hit 50 points in the five-goal comeback win over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday thanks to his three dimes he dished out.

The chemistry that has been built between O'Reilly and Steven Stamkos has been undeniably huge for the Predators' resurgance from bottom league bottom dweller to wildcard hopeful in a one season turnaround. Stamkos achieved his 16th-career hat trick as O'Reilly was just doing what O'Reilly has always done, which is make everyone around him better.

Just look at this forecheck battle for the puck from the about-to-be 35-year-old O'Reilly:

The perfect set-up pass to Stamkos from O'Reilly to get the game-winning goal over Ottawa and put the Predators one point back of the wildcard.

O'Reilly currently has back-to-back three-point games. In an inexesuble lackluster first period against Buffalo on Tuesday, the Predators tried to make another furious comeback while O'Reilly scored two goals and tallied an assist. Unfortunately against the NHL's hottest team, the comeback came up just short.

And just before that, O'Reilly erupted for a four-point game in the enormous upset of the Colorado Avalanche on their home ice, which made the Predators the first team all season to take down the Avalanche in regulation on their home ice. O'Reilly had the hat trick in that game, which is his seventh of his career and third with Nashville.

With 32 games left, O'Reilly sits just 27 points shy of tying his career for a season, which is 77 points set in the 2018-19 season with the Stanle Cup Champion St. Louis Blues that year. O'Reilly would claim the Conn Smythe Trophy for the NHL's most valuable player in the playoffs.

Even more incredible is the bounce-back he's having from just last season. He managed just 53 points in 79 games, which is 0.67 per game. This season in 50 games, O'Reilly is averaging exactly a point-per-game. A huge boost in offensive efficiency.

O'Reilly has been the subject of trade speculations throughout the season, but those have cooled off ever since the Predators started winning more consistently dating back to the beginning of December. He has one more year left on his original four-year deal with Nashville and seems to really want to stay here and see this playoff push through to the end.