The Sabres finished this season with 42 wins and 91 points, their highest totals since making the playoffs in 2010-11. They were one point behind the Florida Panthers for the second Wild Card spot.
The growth is a testament to the culture established by Okposo, who is concluding his first season as captain but has been the de facto leader of the Sabres for years.
"I think he's been the best captain I've had," Zemgus Girgensons, the longest-tenured Sabres player and an alternate captain himself, said.
"He's one of the guys that I look up to and I think a lot of the success here is because of Kyle and the way he handled things. I think he held the team together. "The times in need he was always there. He's a part that was huge for us."
Okposo's leadership has taken many forms. He is an example for others to follow in terms of how he prepares and plays the game. He is vocal in the dressing room when needed, in good times or bad. He moved his family to Western New York and embraced the area, preaching the importance of re-establishing the Sabres as part of the community.
"He's obviously the rock of our team, he's the leader," Casey Mittelstadt said. "… Whatever you need, you can always call Okie."
Last season, with the support of coach Don Granato and general manager Kevyn Adams, Okposo set out to establish a culture in Buffalo where players could unabashedly be themselves.
Asked Saturday what he was proudest of during his seven seasons, he reflected on a mission accomplished.
"The conversations that we have in this circle and how much they have changed and how everyone is able to walk in here and say whatever they think and they're not going to be judged or they're not going to be vilified for it and people feel like they're valued," he said.
"Every time we have one of those moments, I kind of take a step back and it makes me happy to realize how far we've come."
Here are more notes from Day 1 of locker cleanout interviews at KeyBank Center.
1.Watch all of Saturday's interviews here.
2.Alex Tuch will represent the United States at the IIHF World Championship. The tournament runs from May 12 to 28 in Latvia and Finland.
Tuch will be joined on the Team USA roster by his 21-year-old brother Luke, a Canadiens prospect.
"I'm really proud to say this is going to be the first time that my brother and I are going to play on the same hockey team together," he said. "We're six years apart. We're very close, but who knows if we'll ever be able to do it again, so the opportunity presented itself and I had to jump at it, honestly.
"To wear the USA logo is always something that's been really special to me in the past and it's going to continue to be really special for me and I'm going to try to make the country proud."
