From this article -
Sabres look to go 3-0 in Columbus
- "Ralph Krueger had dinner with Okposo before training camp and said he’s embraced his role every since, “From Day 1 in every practice since the 13th of September, he has been attempting to do exactly what we’re asking in every drill understanding that what we need from him is possibly different from the past, but his attitude through this is what’s carrying him and Kyle is a tool we can use for adjustments too.”
Okposo has been one of the alternate captains for a few years here,
but Ralph Krueger gave the A’s to Marcus Johansson and Jake McCabe. Okposo is not upset about it at all, “It’s all right, I think it’s a tremendous opportunity for Jake and Marcus to step up. Jake’s the kind of guy that does everything right and he’s put his dues in and is getting more vocal.
“I’ve been in the league, I mean this is my 12th full year I think and worn a letter for a lot of them, but that doesn’t change who I am as a person if I have it or I don’t.”
I remember Jason Pominville telling me when he came back from Minnesota that he didn’t need a letter to be a leader on the team. Okposo totally agrees with that, “That’s right, you’re not going to change who you are because you have one or you don’t and I think that’s a big lesson for guys.”
You’d be hard pressed to go back in Sabres history and find two better games played to start the season. Okposo said the confidence began before they even dropped the puck in Pittsburgh, “Right now we have a really good buy in into our system and I don’t remember a time in my career where we’ve gone into Pittsburgh and played that well and just given them nothing, so that was a bit of an eye opener for me just to go into that building against a tough team when you’ve got 71 and 87 at the helm and really dominate the game and it was a ton of fun.”
Krueger has given that line a defined role, but he thinks they’ve exceeded it, “If you look at what they’ve been doing here in the first two games they lead the way in really playing simple, hard forechecking, they’re getting the pucks in deep, they’re getting on it, they’re having some strong offensive shifts, Saturday they were 5-to-1 in scoring chances.”
- Two points about this...1) as I have posted many times here, wearing a letter on a sweater doesn't determine who is or isn't a leader on the team. Leaderships transcends which jersey a letter is sewn on. 2) There is a lot of found money on this roster once they play an aggressive, yet more defensively responsible game. Pressure defense generates offense, but this team played scared low event, or overly complicated hockey for too long under previous HCs. The talent on the roster is well above what the results have shown the last few years, and five additions this summer bolster that.