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Ryan O'Reilly will not face punishment after an impaired driving case against him was dropped. USATSI

Buffalo Sabres forward Ryan O'Reilly was in court Monday to face the impaired driving charges brought against him last year. All charges against O'Reilly were dropped, however, after the Crown (prosecution) found there to be "no reasonable prospect of conviction," according to Jane Sims of the London Free Press.

O'Reilly was initially charged after his pickup truck allegedly collided with a Tim Hortons restaurant, causing minor damage to the building, in the early morning hours of July 9. According to reports, O'Reilly and another man were picked up by police after allegedly driving away from the scene of the accident before abandoning the truck and traveling by foot. It was unclear who was driving the truck at the time of the incident or when it left the Tim Hortons.

The case was delayed multiple times before finally being heard in court Monday in London, Ont. It is unclear why, but O'Reilly no longer faced the failure to remain at the scene of an accident charge, which was also part of the initial report. He then pleaded not guilty to the impaired driving charge, according to Sims.

The sole identifying witness was a woman who was working at the Tim Hortons that morning. However, per Sims' play-by-play of the hearing, the defense team was able to confirm that she did not see who was driving the car, nor did she see anyone in the car immediately after the collision, which occurred while she was making food in the restaurant's kitchen. When she went back inside to tell a coworker to call 911, the car was pulling away. Because she could not definitively identify the driver and there was no further evidence, the Crown folded after a brief recess, thus ending the case against the Sabres center.

It's kind of hard to believe that after a year of this case getting delayed, it hinged on one person's recollection, no less one who never saw the drivers.

With the case being dropped, O'Reilly is unlikely to face any further discipline. He was never suspended by the Sabres or the NHL in the wake of this incident and certainly won't be now in the absence of criminal charges.

After exiting the courtroom, O'Reilly offered a brief statement thanking the Sabres and his defense team for their support:

O'Reilly was the Sabres' leading scorer last season with 60 points in 71 games. He will be entering the first season of his new seven-year, $52.5 million contract in 2016-17. That contract was announced six days before the alleged incident occurred.