Player Discussion Kyle Okposo - Farewell Okie

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GellMann

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Dec 16, 2014
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Also, I'm all done criticizing Okposo for good and always. I'll never say another critical word about him or his game as long as he's with the team. What a horrible thing to go through and battle back from.
I think you can still be reasonably critical about his game, and about the roster decisions we're probably going to make with him.

You can say "Man, Okie's hands and legs are shot, and I'm pissed that we keep throwing him out there with Eichel when he'd be less of a drag and more of a help to a kid/depth line" without stepping out of line. I would just keep it from being personal, strictly talking about on-ice performance. That's the whole purpose of this forum after all.
 
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Dirty Dog

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Two guys, that we know of on one team in a season and a half.

How many other guys are just holding on due to incredible will power and a fear of doing anything else with their lives.

I hope this triggers the Sabres to invest heavily in mental health work with their entire organization. I would gladly trade another facility from the Pegulas for a few more doctors.

Very good post
 
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26CornerBlitz

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10-2: Kyle Okposo on WGR (9:13)

Okposo - You get excited for the season opener every year. You just want to go out and show what you worked on over the summer. I think we did a lot of good work, and we're looking forward to showing it off. #Sabres

Okposo - I'm doing really well. Just putting my story out there was something that was scary for me, a tough thing to do, but it was so worth it. It was liberating, and it has helped out others that have reached out to me. It makes it all worth it. #Sabres

Okposo - You won't find a lot of guys around the league that like playing against Jeff Skinner. He always seems to have the puck and it irks guys. It's also a plus having a guy who can score goals. #Sabres

Okposo - Buffalo isn't one of the flashiest cities, but from personal experience, once you get here you will love being here. #Sabres

Okposo - I think our speed has vastly improved. With the guys we've added in the past few seasons, we're definitely in a better place than where we were last year. #Sabres

Okposo on Rasmus Dahlin - He's a special talent. He's extremely smooth, and he's a great kid with a great head on his shoulders. He wants to play hockey, get better and soak everything up. He wants to compete and win. #Sabres

Okposo - There will be that adjustment period with playing in the NHL, but he'll get that down quick. His skills are dynamic. Everyone is pretty impressed with him as well. #Sabres
 
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CatsforReinhart

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Jul 27, 2014
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I am curious about what happened to Okposo. Was it his life threatening injury that ruined him or is it his age and hitting a wall? Can he recover? Is there some offseason training that can bring back his skill?

I am not really interested in the fact that he is trash now but more about the transition to what happened to him from his first year here until now.

Looking for insight I think it is interesting what can happen to a professional athlete and why.
 

Thrasymachus

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Jul 1, 2018
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I am curious about what happened to Okposo. Was it his life threatening injury that ruined him or is it his age and hitting a wall? Can he recover? Is there some offseason training that can bring back his skill?

I am not really interested in the fact that he is trash now but more about the transition to what happened to him from his first year here until now.

Looking for insight I think it is interesting what can happen to a professional athlete and why.
Islander fans have speculated for years that he is a smoker.

How has he been doing for you all lately? I hope that OK has been at least okay. He is one of my favorite ex-islanders of all time. Total class act, hard worker
 

TheDawnOfANewTage

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Dec 17, 2018
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He's looking pretty good lately.

Credit where it's due. 14 points in 22 games.

Yeah I've liked his game more lately as well- I think he needs some confidence, too. He almost seems surprised to touch the puck at points, hope some success is a reminder that he can get it done at this level. Concussions can take awhile, never mind all the extra stuff he went through.. it's just a hard reset, going through that much and then finding an above-average skill level again. Don't think he'll ever live up to the contract, but if he could just be a competent top 6 guy it'd be nice.
 

Snippit

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Dec 5, 2012
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Yeah I've liked his game more lately as well- I think he needs some confidence, too. He almost seems surprised to touch the puck at points, hope some success is a reminder that he can get it done at this level. Concussions can take awhile, never mind all the extra stuff he went through.. it's just a hard reset, going through that much and then finding an above-average skill level again. Don't think he'll ever live up to the contract, but if he could just be a competent top 6 guy it'd be nice.

My post was at the beginning of the season.

I think Okposo has been awful since then lmao
 

TheDawnOfANewTage

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Dec 17, 2018
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His decision to fight today was unbelievably stupid.. no need for it and he got rocked. If he were defending a teammate it might be different, but he was answering for a nothing hit he himself delivered.. why? Hope he's alright, but jeez, can't remember ever having a worse feeling seeing a guy drop the mitts.
 

Tatre

Jan 12, 2019
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It looks worse now than it did initially; he looks stunned as he falls. Obviously, hope Ox is okay, but throwing him back on the ice in the role he's been playing lately would be a bad move.
Hate to see this with so little at stake.
 

tsujimoto74

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May 28, 2012
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His decision to fight today was unbelievably stupid.. no need for it and he got rocked. If he were defending a teammate it might be different, but he was answering for a nothing hit he himself delivered.. why? Hope he's alright, but jeez, can't remember ever having a worse feeling seeing a guy drop the mitts.

Even defending a teammate, while a noble cause, is not something Okposo should be doing. With his prior head injuries, that should never be his job. At this point, he's not just risking his immediate well-being but his long-term health.
 
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Tatanka

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The players would strike for multiple years before giving up guaranteed contracts.
I don’t know about that. You could see the same thing as the nfl where superstars hold out for market value, say McKinnon Schieffle, while the Sobotkas are waived. I think it would be a boon to big markets, who can overpay in the short term but get cap relief at a moments notice. The next level down would move more often and for more money. The players would front load contracts and possibly extend careers when they could sign shorter deals for more money. Vanek has been doing that since Minny.
 

Chainshot

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The better option for both would be easier buyouts. If the player still gets the money for the contract and can continue to play, and if the owner/team gets out from under a bad contract without a huge hit to their cap, that makes both sides more willing. The issue then becomes between small market and large market, and we know money talks in the NHL.
 
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sabrebuild

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I don’t know about that. You could see the same thing as the nfl where superstars hold out for market value, say McKinnon Schieffle, while the Sobotkas are waived. I think it would be a boon to big markets, who can overpay in the short term but get cap relief at a moments notice. The next level down would move more often and for more money. The players would front load contracts and possibly extend careers when they could sign shorter deals for more money. Vanek has been doing that since Minny.
The better option for both would be easier buyouts. If the player still gets the money for the contract and can continue to play, and if the owner/team gets out from under a bad contract without a huge hit to their cap, that makes both sides more willing. The issue then becomes between small market and large market, and we know money talks in the NHL.

This is the rub. Tatanka, the issue with your point is that only about 20-30 guys at best would truly benefit or have the leverage to renegotiate or get raises early, while a ton of players roughly fit in the Sobotka dump worthy category.

In the last two years alone, the Sabres would have been smart to buyout about 5 guys at least. Over that same time, maybe Reinhart is the only guy in a position of nfl style leverage to holdout and negotiate a new deal after this first year of that incredibly stupid bridge deal. The union is for everyone, not just the top guys. It’s a violent game, a guy like Okposo did nothing wrong to play worse, other than almost die. The vast majority will want their guaranteed contract. They would be stupid to not want it.

To Chains point, that would certainly help with the players cash point of view, but it would require the wealthy teams to really bend 20 or so teams in the league into agreeing to a financial deal that screws them harder than they already are. I’m not sure if their is enough juice to make that happen after so much league success with a cap.

Imagine the buyout deals the Leafs could rack up.

85 million on the cap and 125 off. They would still probably be profitable.
 

Willgamesh

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Jan 31, 2019
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Hope kyle is ok long term. Might be considered douchey to say but if our reason for existence is the cup getting out of his contract would be huge.
 

La Cosa Nostra

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It is not just the cap. His play for us after the first couple months has been utterly atrocious (Remember he was our ASG rep his first year here). Ever since halfway through year 1 he has been a $3-4 million dollar player, not 6. We still have FOUR more years at 6 per and he is not even a .5 ppg player anymore on a far more talented team then we had his first 2 seasons.

Add in 2 major concussions in a year and he is going to go from a 13-15 goal, 35 point type player to Moulson level of unproductive contribution. If he does not retire after this concussion we are probably better off waiving him to Rochester, and using the 1.05 mil cap relief and play a vet min contract player instead. Would still be 6 mil of cap but would let Okposo be in Rochester and hopefully a fast, hard working 4th liner in his place.

Not good. We cannot afford 7-8% of the cap to a player so bad.
 

coastal

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Jun 22, 2016
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What are the cap implications of buying him out?

Also... why does Housley give bums like Bogo and him an “A”!? I don’t care if their vets and prepare the right way. They suck as hockey players. It’s not ok to suck.
 

pigpen65

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Jul 25, 2011
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Its unreal that he was signed while Moulson was already here. One would be excusable. How the hell do you make the exact same mistake twice?
 
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