Buffalo Sabres: 3 incredible things experts said about Kyle Okposo
By Sion Fawkes
The Don Granato Effect saw plenty of players on the Buffalo Sabres experience career renaissances. Kyle Okposo was one of those players.
The Buffalo Sabres struck gold last season with Kyle Okposo, whose career with the team appeared to be over. It’s clear that Okposo was on his last chance with the Sabres, given his struggles during the Ralph Kreuger era and the first two-dozen games under Don Granato, in which he scored 32 points in 87 games.
Okposo also struggled in 2018-19, when he scored just 29 times in 78 contests. During those three seasons, his ice time diminished to between 12:51 and 13:53.
Had he continued struggling, about the only thing that would have kept him around in Buffalo would have been his ability to win face-offs. Which he won between 49.7 and 54.2 percent of the time.
Buffalo Sabres winger Kyle Okposo draws praise across league spheres
But things changed in 2021-22. No longer was Okposo struggling mightily. While he got banged up a couple of times and ended up missing eight games last season, the oldest skater on the Buffalo Sabres resurrected his career at the absolute best possible moment.
He scored 45 times this past season, with 21 of those scores finding twine. Okposo encroached the 12 percent mark in shooting percentage for the first time since 2016-17. He also played well defensively, logging 59 hits and 24 takeaways. The latter of which was his highest since 2017-18.
Most importantly, Okposo took a leadership role with the Sabres. And now that he’s heading into the 2022-23 season at age 34 for a team that might contend, a youthful club like Buffalo will benefit from his 15 seasons of NHL experience.
But for today, let’s focus on what made Okposo one of the best players in Buffalo last season. Beginning with his career renaissance.