I believe that occurred a day or two before they were going to play one another again in an exhibition game in Saskatoon. I was pumped to see the aftermath in person. Neither Phaneuf or Okposo played.
I'm a little surprised they would bring him back and I'm a little surprised he accepted a 1 year deal with low salary. I'll just wait here for Out Of the Cube to come and explain the leadership role he must have on that club to do something like this.
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Originally Posted by ResAlien
If we can't fall in love with replaceable bottom 6 players then the terrorists have won.
I'm a little surprised they would bring him back and I'm a little surprised he accepted a 1 year deal with low salary. I'll just wait here for Out Of the Cube to come and explain the leadership role he must have on that club to do something like this.
Out of the Cube will have more insight, but just in general Okposo is their captain, but he's also old with a huge history of injuries. It's nice he rebounded for a couple strong years considering his injury past, but the team probably wants to be safe by only going a year at a time with him at this point, and he seems to be fine with it too.
If we re-signed Backlund and named him captain, taking a similar approach of shorter-term, lower money deals would be ideal to me, granted Backlund has way more gas in the tank than Okposo and you could still go 3-ish years on Backs.
The nightmare of 2016 is finally over. Arguably the worst ever NHL free agency has come off the books for all teams involved. It's unbelievable that many NHL GM's could screw up so bad in one free agency period.
Milan Lucic, 7 yrs, $42M
Kyle Okposo, 7 yrs, $42M
Andrew Ladd, 7 yrs, $38.5M
Loui Eriksson, 6 yrs, $36M
Frans Nielsen, 6 yrs, $31.25M
David Backes, 5 yrs, $30M
Darren Helm, 5 yrs, $19.25M
Troy Brouwer, 4 yrs, $18M
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The nightmare of 2016 is finally over. Arguably the worst ever NHL free agency has come off the books for all teams involved. It's unbelievable that many NHL GM's could screw up so bad in one free agency period.
Milan Lucic, 7 yrs, $42M
Kyle Okposo, 7 yrs, $42M
Andrew Ladd, 7 yrs, $38.5M
Loui Eriksson, 6 yrs, $36M
Frans Nielsen, 6 yrs, $31.25M
David Backes, 5 yrs, $30M
Darren Helm, 5 yrs, $19.25M
Troy Brouwer, 4 yrs, $18M
When you compare it to the other signings that offseason the Brouwer contract looks reasonable.
I'm a little surprised they would bring him back and I'm a little surprised he accepted a 1 year deal with low salary. I'll just wait here for Out Of the Cube to come and explain the leadership role he must have on that club to do something like this.
Nailed it, pretty much. He's been the heart and soul of the new post-Eichel Sabres. He's the guy out front and center at every charity event, every autograph session, every hockey and non-hockey related event. Young players have said the first call they've got after being drafted is from Kyle. He loves the team and the city. The guy has written multiple open letters to the fanbase talking about how the culture would change and being honest and open. Just seems like a first class guy that loves the team and loves the city.
"He's obviously the rock of our team," Mittelstadt said. "He's the leader."
He moved his family to Buffalo full-time and penned open letters to fans regarding the state of the team. He spoke on behalf of the team in times of mourning and times of celebration.
"I think he's been the best captain I've had," Zemgus Girgensons, his linemate and alternate captain these past two seasons, 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."
When the Sabres returned to the ice for their first game following a deadly blizzard that paralyzed Western New York during the holidays, it was Okposo who scored a hat trick to lead them to a victory in front of a sellout crowd.
"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."
"I can't say enough good things about him as a person, what he's done in the locker room, the way he carries the message from Donny (Granato) and the coaching staff through to the team, his selflessness, to be able to mentor and bring along players," Adams said.
"I see it over and over again, day after day, players are down, whatever's going on in their life, they're talking to him. And I just think it's, we're lucky to have him."
So yeah - from the outside people might go "what?" cause he's not super flashy or a big star, but if you follow the team, he's a true leader and old school style captain that you want to have (not these spoiled kids that get the letter handed to them at 20 years old if you know what I mean)
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The nightmare of 2016 is finally over. Arguably the worst ever NHL free agency has come off the books for all teams involved. It's unbelievable that many NHL GM's could screw up so bad in one free agency period.
Milan Lucic, 7 yrs, $42M
Kyle Okposo, 7 yrs, $42M
Andrew Ladd, 7 yrs, $38.5M
Loui Eriksson, 6 yrs, $36M
Frans Nielsen, 6 yrs, $31.25M
David Backes, 5 yrs, $30M
Darren Helm, 5 yrs, $19.25M
Troy Brouwer, 4 yrs, $18M
So bizarre too.. felt like fans were united in the “wtf is happening!?” camp.
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The nightmare of 2016 is finally over. Arguably the worst ever NHL free agency has come off the books for all teams involved. It's unbelievable that many NHL GM's could screw up so bad in one free agency period.
Milan Lucic, 7 yrs, $42M
Kyle Okposo, 7 yrs, $42M
Andrew Ladd, 7 yrs, $38.5M
Loui Eriksson, 6 yrs, $36M
Frans Nielsen, 6 yrs, $31.25M
David Backes, 5 yrs, $30M
Darren Helm, 5 yrs, $19.25M
Troy Brouwer, 4 yrs, $18M
Yet so many here are pinning for signing this and that player every free agency. None of these guys had franchise potential or even star player potential during their FA period, but these dumb GMs made those decisions. Anyone outside your franchise player should never be signed beyond 5 years. After that there's such large chance they'll be anchors to flexibility after they hit 30. Just say no each time that's suggested here.
Yet so many here are pinning for signing this and that player every free agency. None of these guys had franchise potential or even star player potential during their FA period, but these dumb GMs made those decisions. Anyone outside your franchise player should never be signed beyond 5 years. After that there's such large chance they'll be anchors to flexibility after they hit 30. Just say no each time that's suggested here.
I'm pretty sure a lot of posters here panned a lot of those signings that summer as that was an extraordinary bad year. NHL fans love trades and free agency so it's not surprising that fans pine for their team to sign free agency. I personally think it's the worst time of the year as a fan because you know if your team is active that it's not likely going to work out. Free agency is the time of year where players and agents win and teams largely lose. For example Blake Coleman is a really good 3rd line hockey player but is that contract really a win for the Flames with still four years remaining on the deal? That $5 million in cap space would be pretty valuable when trying to retain your top center in Lindholm or top 3 defenseman in Hanafin.
Yet so many here are pinning for signing this and that player every free agency. None of these guys had franchise potential or even star player potential during their FA period, but these dumb GMs made those decisions. Anyone outside your franchise player should never be signed beyond 5 years. After that there's such large chance they'll be anchors to flexibility after they hit 30. Just say no each time that's suggested here.
I think it’s okay to add boat anchors in years 4-7 if your window is years 1-3. The flames already having Kadri and Huberdeau signed to expensive long term contract that will be boat anchors soon.
So given the flames situation bring on the boat anchors if it makes the team better for the next three years. It will only be by being stuck in expensive bad contracts that this team will be forced to rebuild so the last 4 years of Kadri and Huberdeau seem like a good time for that rebuild to take place.
I remember criticizing the Brouwer signing the moment it happened and then being utterly trashed by CP.
Brouwer and the others were all clearly bad signings even at the time IMO. I guess the Okposo signing didn't seem quite as bad simply because he was younger.
I remember criticizing the Brouwer signing the moment it happened and then being utterly trashed by CP.
Brouwer and the others were all clearly bad signings even at the time IMO. I guess the Okposo signing didn't seem quite as bad simply because he was younger.
Totally believe you. CP loves changing things. If nothing changes, they bellyache.
Sabres re-sign Kyle Okposo (1 yr, $2.5 mil)
