Burnside: Kyle Okposo, back from the brink and now thriving with the Buffalo Sabres

Scott Burnside
Scott Burnside
Burnside: Kyle Okposo, back from the brink and now thriving with the Buffalo Sabres

By Scott Burnside

The story of the aging vet, thought by many, including himself, as perhaps being past his prime, surprising with a late-career burst of productivity is a familiar narrative.

But what if what is at play is something more than that?

What if it’s not just about momentarily turning back the hands of time but of being made whole after being broken?

What if it’s about confronting calamitous medical and mental issues and willing yourself forward?

What if it’s about finding joy that was once lost?

Maybe that’s why it is so gratifying to watch Kyle Okposo not just playing for the emerging Buffalo Sabres, but thriving, leading and being, well, the Kyle Okposo that we first met in his prime when he was a feared power forward with the New York Islanders a decade ago.

When he strides into an interview room in Raleigh during an off day, there is a kind of bounce to his step and a hopefulness not just about his own successes – he leads the Sabres with 17 points and has already surpassed his point totals of a year ago. He’s also only a few games from likely passing his totals from two seasons ago – but about the future of the oft-maligned Sabres.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” the 33-year-old Minnesota native told DailyFaceoff.com. “Most fun that I’ve had playing hockey in a while. And a lot of that stems from the people that I go to work with every day.

“We have a really young group. Very enthusiastic but they genuinely like each other. Like everybody off the ice just wants to hang out, wants to be with each other. There’s not really cliques they just truly care about each other and I think that is a great step for us. I’ve kind of always been a big culture person and I think that culture drives a lot. And this group of young guys, this young core that’s still forming and it’s going to morph into something different in the coming years with some of the new younger players that we have, but the base of the foundation’s being laid now and it’s been a ton of fun for me to see and for me to play with these guys.”

It’s still a work in progress, of course.

The Sabres are still in the very initial stages of what might be pretty much a lock to miss the playoffs for a record 11th straight season.

But Okposo is committed to the coaching staff, led by Don Granato, the team and to the city which has become home.

As a player that has always commanded respect in whatever locker room he has been in, Okposo is a vital piece of the puzzle.

“He fits because he’s still a rink rat,” Granato said. “Throw age out. The passion that he has for the game is amazing. He tells me that he thinks about hockey 24 hours a day still.

“And players feed off that. He’s on the ice early. He’s identifying and targeting ways he can succeed, ways to adapt, evolve his game. I guess that’s probably the key. He never stops adapting and evolving. That excites him.”

Okposo would be a role model even if he wasn’t producing. But the fact he is makes it that much easier for Granato and his staff to continue to put Okposo in positions to continue his success.

“We want these guys to feel good about themselves and their game,” Granato said. “And who doesn’t feel good when they’re producing, statistically producing?

“My approach to coaching is when you see the players put the work in that Kyle does, you work for them, too. We work for them in that case.

“He’s not a guy that I’m sitting here having to push every day, having to demand every day. He demands more out of himself than I could ever push and demand of him.

“He adds so much of the intangibles to a team. As a coach, you’re actively seeking places for him to succeed within a lineup. And if guys aren’t working, your inclination and your reflex as a coach is why should I be working to find this guy and to help him to get to his game when he’s not doing his job? And with Kyle it’s the exact opposite.”

In any circumstance it would be impressive and worthy of celebration. Against the backdrop of the very real possibility that Okposo’s career might have been over back in 2017 and, well, remarkable comes to mind.

Certainly the idea that he might not ever get back to this point or frankly get back to any point has crossed Okposo’s mind and more than once.

“Oh yeah,” he said. “Oh yeah. That self-doubt is real for sure. Especially after the big concussion that I had and I was out for a while and it’s like okay am I ever going to be the same player? Can I ever play at that level again? And you for sure have those doubts and I think any player that tells you otherwise is probably kidding themselves.

“Everybody goes through those periods of where they lose confidence in their game. For me it’s just been a lot of work on my mind to try and get back and to try and keep pushing forward in that regard and it’s been a process that’s it’s never going to stop because I don’t think it ever stops in life; either you’ve got to continue to do things that make you successful and try and set yourself up for success and that applies to after hockey.”

To fully chronicle what Okposo and his wife, Danielle, and their families and friends endured in the spring of 2017 would truly fill a book. And credit to the fine Buffalo writer Tim Graham with whom the Okposos shared their story in The Athletic several years ago for his lengthy and eloquent explanation of all that transpired then.

But the condensed version is that after sustaining a concussion during a practice on a rather routine play, the injury unlocked long buried childhood memories and created a litany of physical and mental issues, including long periods where Okposo could not sleep.

Okposo underwent a battery of neurological tests in an effort to pinpoint exactly what was happening to him and how to get him back to normal.

There were dramatic changes in his moods, his personality.

There was weight loss and other concussion-related symptoms.

At one point, a disoriented Okposo was checked into Buffalo General Hospital’s neurological intensive care unit.

A slew of physicians at the hospital, along with the team’s medical staff and other assorted specialists, went over and over how to divert Okposo from the path he was on, a path seemed certain to spell the end of his career and perhaps something more dire.

Ultimately, treatment for a long-standing neck injury helped turn the tide and Okposo slowly was able to move off the medications he’d been taking for anxiety and to try and help him sleep.

Matt Moulson and Okposo met when both were with the New York Islanders and their wives quickly became close friends.

“My wife was instantly, I like this girl,” Moulson said. “It was an instant thing where we became best friends the four of us.”

Moulson and Okposo roomed together on the road.

They are godparents to each other’s children.

And when Okposo was at his worst, Moulson slept in the hospital while his wife was devoted to trying to help Danielle and the Okposos’ young family through the uncertainty.

“I think if you asked his family and yeah I think we consider ourselves family, a lot of us would answer, yes, we were worried,” Moulson said. “There was a tough stretch there. It’s definitely great to see what he’s doing now. I think everyone’s just proud of him and happy to watch him to what he’s doing.”

“Kyle went through so much,” said Okposo’s agent Pat Brisson, who was also instrumental in making sure every avenue was explored in helping Okposo back to full strength. “I couldn’t have been happier because you never know when you talk about health issues and mental health issues, it’s not like a shoulder or a knee injury.”

Not only has Okposo rediscovered his zest for the game, Brisson said he has also quietly made a point of reaching out and helping others who may be facing their own challenges.

“I know Kyle has been helping others as well,” Brisson said. “He’s the first one to lend a hand if he can make a difference in someone else’s life.”

Those days seem like a long time ago, as though they might have happened to someone else. Except they didn’t and there isn’t a day that goes by that Okposo doesn’t reflect at least a little on this journey and on the gift that is the game and the gift that is his health.

The fact he is playing as well as he has in years is of course the best kind of icing on the cake.

“I feel like a kid again,” Okposo said. “Sometimes you’re just playing, you’re not thinking about anything. You’re just making plays and the young guys really compliment that as well.”

“I mean it’s definitely come back full circle for me. I’m a huge hockey nerd at heart and I always have been and I just love knowing what’s going on in the league and I love talking about it like Matt and I talk about that stuff all the time. We’ll call and go did you see that game last night what did you think of this guy that’s just what we do.

“But I didn’t have that right away when I got back after everything that I went through. I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to play again and if I was ever going to be the same and I had some anxiety in my life for not the first time but for the first time where I actually knew what it was.

“And coming back and playing and wondering: ‘oh shoot, am I going to be able to sleep in a hotel room on the road?’ That was tough because I went through a period where I didn’t sleep for a long time. And so that first season was a big kind of feeling out process of alright what’s this going to be like? What’s the new normal moving forward? And if I look back on it now it’s been a difficult journey to where I am now.”

Okposo’s children are 7, 5, 3 and 1 with birthdays upcoming in the coming months. His son, Odin, turning six, is a huge hockey nut like his dad.

“He loves hockey more than anybody that I know,” Okposo said. “Every morning he wakes up and watches highlights and asks why did you do this? Why didn’t you do that? He knows everybody’s number. He asks guys questions all the time. He just wants to play hockey all the time. That’s been a lot of fun.”

So we joke that he’ll have to keep playing at least four or five years so all the kids will get a chance to watch dad play.

Okposo laughs.

“Well, we’ll see what the body says.”

And then as the conversation comes to a close Okposo takes a moment to reflect and try and put all this is in some perspective.

“I love the game it just took me a little bit to find the path again,” Okposo said. “I never stopped loving, it’s just now there’s that kid again that’s in me. it’s just a ton of fun to play and it’s a ton of fun to be around the game and I’m not taking one day for granted because I know that it can go quick.

“I don’t know, I want to leave this game better than I found it and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

And it’s hard to imagine that hasn’t already been accomplished.

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