'He cares so much' | Okposo's milestone a testament to perseverance, leadership

Kyle Okposo first considered the idea of playing 1,000 NHL games around the time he hit the halfway mark, when he was in his final season with the New York Islanders.

“I was like, ‘Wow, that’s a lot of games,’” Okposo recalled Monday. “You’ve got to play 500 more to hit 1,000. I don’t know about that.”

There was no way to know then what those next 500 would entail: a move to Buffalo that summer, an All-Star selection, head injuries that would force him to reconsider his future, an eventual captaincy.

Yet, through the ups and the downs, Okposo made it. The forward will play his 1,000th game against the Boston Bruins inside KeyBank Center on Tuesday, when he will become the 46th active player to reach the milestone and the first to do so in a Sabres uniform since Jason Pominville in 2018.

Okposo’s longevity is a testament to the recurring qualities that come up in discussions with those who know him: perseverance, leadership, community, and family.

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“It’s something that I will look back on very fondly, and I don’t do anything for praise or recognition,” Okposo said. “I just try to do the right thing. This is something that’s a byproduct of that, and it’s a special day for everybody that helped me get to this point.”

Perseverance

Okposo had just finished his seven-year contract when he spoke with the media on locker cleanout day in April, a moment that called for reflection. He thought back to March 2017.

"If you were to tell me that I'd play out the remainder of my deal and be where I am today, I probably would've said you're lying," Okposo said.

Okposo had made an immediate impact in 2016-17, his first season in Buffalo. His leadership was acknowledged by teammates and his performance earned him an All-Star Game selection.

It all came to a halt in March, when a concussion sustained in practice resulted in Okposo being hospitalized in the neurosurgical ICU at Buffalo General Hospital. His wife, Danielle, was by his side through a long and frightening recovery.

“I honestly think if he wouldn’t have gone through those hard times, he wouldn’t be the man he is today,” Danielle said.

The man those in Buffalo have come to know in the ensuing six years is a model husband and father to four children, an advocate for mental health, a direct leader, and an intentional listener.

Those principles helped Okposo weather further adversity throughout his tenure in Buffalo. He overcame additional concussions and other injuries. He reinvented his game, establishing himself as a tone-setting checking forward. He embraced his situation as the Sabres’ roster changed rapidly around him, steering the NHL’s youngest team through three seasons of tangible growth.

“It’s definitely his love and the dedication for the game,” Zemgus Girgensons, his teammate for eight seasons in Buffalo, said. “The way he approaches the game on a day-to-day basis is unmatched. I can’t think of another player who does what he does, and he does it on a daily basis. That’s kind of what separates him from others.”

Leadership

Jordan Greenway went out alone for dinner shortly after he was traded to Buffalo from Minnesota in March of last season. Okposo, who was eating on his own at the same restaurant, sent a text inviting Greenway to join him at his table.

The conversation they shared that night – about life more so than hockey – remains with Greenway to this day.

“We had a great conversation for a long time, and I learned a lot from him that day,” Greenway said.

A poll of the Sabres locker room would reveal that most players – if not all of them – have a similar Okposo story. He was the first teammate to take Owen Power to dinner, the first to text Connor Clifton upon signing with Buffalo, the face that greeted Matt Savoie on Facetime the night of his draft.

When Jacob Bryson was a healthy scratch for a game last season, Okposo texted him words of encouragement.

“I think any time when I was down or I had something going on, he was the guy who was there,” Bryson said.

Don Granato has a similar story he shares often. The Sabres were mired in a losing streak when Granato was named interim head coach in March 2021. The streak reached 18 games with an overtime loss to Philadelphia, a game in which Buffalo surrendered a three-goal lead.

Okposo texted Granato and all but guaranteed a win in their rematch with the Flyers the following night.

“His text to me after a loss at home where we gave up a lead was, basically, ‘Hang in there. We will win tomorrow,’” Granato said.

“What we’d been doing as coaches and as a team, he conveyed his confidence in it and reassured me that we were on the verge, and we were ready to win. That proved true the next day.”

Okposo was a leader in the Sabres’ dressing room long before that streak and the changes it wrought – with longtime players replaced by a young, impressionable group. But he seized the transitional phase as an opportunity to build a culture based on respect, acceptance, and individuality.

He was an alternate captain alongside Girgensons the following season and named full-time captain in 2022.

“Since the day when Okie came in, I always thought he was the leader,” Girgensons said. “Always from day one. The day he was named the captain was a very special day because from day one I thought he was deserving of that job and I knew he would excel at that job.”

Teammates marvel at Okposo’s ability to communicate, be it in a group setting or in a one-on-one conversation. He has a reputation for speeches that range from lighthearted to commanding, depending on the situation and what it calls for.  

“It’s interesting because he can be a very joking, very laidback type of guy,” Greenway said. “Vulnerable at times when you need him to be, this or that. But when he does get serious and has something to say and really wants people to listen to him, he can turn it on to be the captain and the guy we need to listen to. There’s something about him that when he talks and when he’s trying to be serious, trying to reach out to everyone, you see everyone kind of straighten up and listen to him.”

Casey Mittelstadt said it’s common for Okposo to deliver one his patented speeches at team functions away from the rink.

“I don’t know how he can keep giving speeches over and over, and every time I think the entire room is completely quiet,” Casey Mittelstadt said. “He has the full attention of everyone there.”

Okposo may be even more impactful on an interpersonal level. He makes a point to give every conversation his full, undivided attention. He is considered approachable and respectful and demands that others in the Sabres organization carry themselves the same way.

“His best asset is being a good listener,” Alex Tuch said.

Rasmus Dahlin and Peyton Krebs both report learning the same lesson from Okposo. Dahlin recalled a time he was complaining about another person and Okposo set him straight.

“He told me to go up and tell the person, don’t [complain] about him,” Dahlin recalled. “You’ve got to be straightforward. That taught me a lot about how important it is to be direct to people.”

Krebs found the same advice similarly impactful.

“Never lie,” Krebs said. “I know sometimes you have to say different things, but as much as you can say the honest truth. And he does that and I think that’s why guys respect him so much. You’re not going to get any b.s. with him and that’s what I love about Okie and something that I’ll take with me for the rest of my life.”

Community

Granato still marvels at the situation he watched unfold earlier this season, when a trio of trash-talking opposing players chose the City of Buffalo as their target.

Okposo, taking exception with their choice of words, followed the players back to the visiting bench.

“The three players literally stopped before they went on their bench and listened to him,” Granato said. “And he called them out, big time. I’d never seen anything like that in hockey. They didn’t move. They let him finish and then they walked onto the bench basically with their heads down.

“That was really, really impressive.”

Kyle and Danielle Okposo, both Minnesota born and raised, made Buffalo their full-time home in 2018. It’s where they have raised four children – Elliana, Odin, Livia, and Emmett. It’s the site of car rides to hockey practices and dance recitals and family trips to the lake.

They have embraced what that means in terms of their role in the community. When 10 people were killed in the mass shooting at a Tops grocery market in May 2022, Kyle joined members of the Bills and Bandits on a visit to pay respect and lend his ear to people in East Buffalo.

Okposo emphasized the importance of rallying for the community again following the blizzard that paralyzed Western New York last holiday season. He was among the players who stayed back in Buffalo and weathered the storm.

“He spent, I don’t know, two full days trying to shovel us out of here,” Danielle said. “I was like, ‘Are you going to have any energy for the game?’ And then he shoveled the neighbors out.”

The Sabres returned in front of an emotionally charged, sellout crowd for a home game against Detroit. Okposo scored a hat-trick in a 6-3 win.

"Just to play in this city and feel like we're a part of the community, we're trying to become part of the glue that helps this community heal and holds this community together,” he said that night. “We tried to go show that on the ice tonight."

Family

Odin Okposo was the first person to find out his father had signed a one-year contract to return to the Sabres this past summer. The seven-year-old was brushing his teeth when Kyle got off the phone with general manager Kevyn Adams and told him he was going to keep playing.

“His reaction was worth it,” Okposo said.

It is common to see the Okposo children around KeyBank Center, greeting their dad on his way to the ice or spending time with his teammates in the locker room. For all his leadership, for all his tenacity on the ice, Okposo’s reputation as a father is what teammates admire most.

“I’ve tried to pick his brain as much as possible about fatherhood,” Tuch, who is expecting his first child, said. “… Getting to know the kids and seeing how they interact, it’s really special.”

Okposo ended last season with 984 games played. The Sabres finished one point shy of making the playoffs for the first time in his tenure with the organization. He chose to return not to reach a milestone, but to help see the mission through.

The support of his family was instrumental.

“He cares so much on all fronts,” Danielle said. “He cares about the guys, he cares about everyone at the rink. He cares about the fans. It’s a big deal. I know that every day he is trying everything he can on this last little bit that we have to get there, so I’m doing everything I can to support that. And the kids too, which is awesome.”