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2021-22 Buffalo Sabres: 4RW – Kyle Okposo (+Does PSE Want Money for KBC?) |
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With the free agency period settling down and most NHL general managers heading to their cabins for the traditionally slow month of August, it’s time to start projecting what the roster could look like when the puck drops in October. We’ll start at the bottom of the roster and work our way to the top which will allow time for trades to occur at the top of the roster should they come to fruition in the next two months. So let’s get to the business of building your 2021-2022 Buffalo Sabres.
We’ll start with one of the longest-tenured Buffalo Sabres: Kyle Okposo. Once upon a time, general manager Tim Murray signed Okposo to a 7 year, $42m contract with the notion that Okposo would provide top-6 production from the right wing. That never really materialized, and Okposo’s production has slid every year since posting 45 points in 65 games during his first campaign with the Sabres in 2016-17. The large winger never managed to eclipse the 20 goal mark, either, although he came close that same year when he potted 19. Concussions have severely hampered his availability and have periodically cast a shadow of doubt as to whether he can continue to play hockey safely.
The record keeping on the number of concussions sustained by Kyle Okposo is somewhat hard to pin down. One website lists the number of concussions in his Sabres career as three, but that list does not seem to include the concussion and related issues at the end of 2017 that put Okposo into the hospital with post-concussion related issues. The fallout from that injury – recorded in an excellent piece written by Tim Graham of The Athletic – was both scary and incredibly emotional, with Okposo recounting a harrowing experience that shook his entire family. If that concussion event was indeed omitted from his history, it appears the total number of concussions is four.
Okposo has returned from each one of the concussions determined to resume his career in what has become a depth forward/checking role; it’s a role that Okposo has embraced while putting up some solid defensive numbers. Former coach Ralph Krueger relied on the trio of Okposo, Zemgus Girgensons and Johan Larsson to take on the toughest defensive assignments in order to steer some pressure away from the top-two lines. Okposo posted especially strong defensive numbers during the 2019-20 campaign as Krueger played a low-event brand of hockey designed limit chances against.
Interestingly, Don Granato seemed to bring out a little bit of a different Kyle Okposo when he took over from Krueger late in the 2021 season. Okposo’s offensive numbers rose significantly: the big winger potted 9 points in 12 games while playing pretty big minutes. He played over 20 minutes on a short-handed Sabres team against the Rangers on April 1. Okposo’s defensive impacts suffered due to this change, but he added some offense in what became a more run-and-gun philosophy. Another change came when Granato decided to insert Okposo on the penalty kill with more regularity. It’s a role that seemed ill-fitting for the slow-footed Okposo, but the underlying impacts tell us that he is actually a very capable penalty killer, perhaps due to his veteran savvy. It’s important to have capable bottom-six players fill the penalty killing roles to keep the top-6 players fresh for the lion’s share on 5-on-5 time and power play work.
Okposo now has two years left on his deal and he figures to play them both in Buffalo as the Sabres are nowhere near the salary cap and have limited incentive to try to move him. It’s often been said that the St. Paul native has been an excellent mentor to fellow Minnesotan Casey Mittelstadt as the young Sabre has navigated a turbulent few years in the Sabres organization. Okposo’s leadership will become increasingly important with the departure of the bulk of the Sabres longest-tenured players. This young Buffalo squad needs solid voices like Kyle Okposo in the locker room.
In terms of on-ice impact, fans shouldn’t expect Okposo to return to his Islanders form and score 60 points while playing top-line minutes. Okposo will play a solid two-way game and chip in on the penalty kill to take some burden off the burgeoning young talent on the team along with providing some much-need mentorship. The right winger’s tenure in Buffalo has certainly not gone to plan, though he still has role to play on the team.
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News dropped yesterday via the Buffalo News that the Pegulas were reportedly asking for $1.5 billion (that’s billion with a “b”) in taxpayer money for new Bills stadium along with money to renovate the aging Key Bank center which the Sabres call home. Fans have long complained about the atmosphere and condition of the arena, with many jokes being made about broken cupholders in recent seasons. There’s no doubt that the KBC needs to be freshened up.
PSE eventually sent a message to the BN to clarify that they are not actually asking for money to renovate the arena as part of a Highmark Stadium replacement package after initially refusing to comment on the story.
Key Bank Center, originally called Crossroads Arena, opened in 1996 to the tune of $175m in construction costs. Erie County owns the building with Pegula Sports and Entertainment (PSE) managing the property that sits adjacent to the Harborcenter. It would make sense for the Pegulas to renovate the county owned facility to bring it up to a higher level of comfort than what patrons have seen in recent years. The concourses in the building are congested, it’s not possible to watch the game while in line for concessions and the seats are sometimes in disrepair. The arena could certainly make a lot of changes to those issues for the type of figures that were originally thrown around in the Buffalo News piece ($400m).
The building cost $233m in inflation-adjusted 2021 dollars to build 25 years ago and I suspect there will be a lot of negotiation that sees that number drop below the originally reported $400m to a more manageable figure for the taxpayers. Taxpayer-funded stadiums and stadium improvements have been a hot-button issue in recent years, and it remains to be seen how much the state, county and local levels are willing to give to a team that has been absolutely abysmal for the last decade. Taxpayers likely have no appetite to subsidize a franchise in such disrepair.
The Sabres under the Pegulas would be wise to take a page from the Bills playbook and start winning before asking the taxpayers to subsidize arena repairs.
Buffalo Sabres Blogger • 
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