BUFFALO, NY — Thirty-three years after Dirk Graham became the NHL’s first Black captain, Kyle Okposo joins the shortlist as the Sabers named him their full-time captain for the 2022-23 season in what head coach Don Granato called their “worst kept secret.”
“It’s obvious that he deserved it,” Granato said. “And he’s represented us so well in so many areas beyond what you could see behind the scenes. He’s amazing. It’s incredible.”
To general manager Kevyn Adams, nothing is changing. The Sabers are merely recognizing the leader that Okposo has been and especially embodied as co-captains with Zemgus Girgensons not in the wake of Eichel’s exit from Buffalo, but as the franchise took new life by the wings of their incoming youth.
“Kyle is someone who has so much respect within our locker room, without our organization, within our community and in the hockey world,” Adams said. “That’s just his reputation and as good of a player as he is in his career, he’s a better person. I just think he’s clearly the leader.”
For Okposo as well, nothing is changing. The veteran made it clear at the locker room cleanout in April that the honor of captaincy, if it were to come, would not affect his personality or leadership.
“It’s just a tremendous honor and I couldn’t be more proud,” Okposo said after practice on Monday. “I’m just going to continue to be myself. If you start to act a different way, or do things differently, the guys see through that in a heartbeat. You can’t fool anybody. So authenticity is definitely number one on my list.”
One thing Okposo had not considered over the weekend as texts of support poured in from around the league was the fact that he is one of a handful of black men to receive this honor in NHL history. When confronted with this reality, Okposo immediately flashed back to a pivotal moment 17 years ago, at the roots of his professional hockey career: connecting with the league’s second-ever Black captain.
“When I first got into the league, or when I signed — Jarome Iginla is half Nigerian like myself, and he was an idol of mine for sure,” Okposo said. “And when I first was in Bridgeport, he called me. And we spoke for about 15 minutes, just welcoming me into the league. So that moment was very special to me, and kind of the first thing that popped into my head was that he wore the captain ‘C’ you know, he worked the ‘C’ for Calgary for a number of years. So definitely a tremendous honor and something that, with everything that’s going on in the world, I don’t take lightly.”
In the last year of his seven-year, $42 million splash-free agency contract with Buffalo, Okposo admitted that he’s given his future some thought, but that is far from the forefront of his mind today. The priority is this current season with Buffalo. Okposo’s career has been a rollercoaster with lows (severe concussion aftermath in 2017) and highs (45 points in 2021-22).
“My whole career hasn’t been in a straight line, and it very rarely is,” Okposo said. “You have ups and downs and you deal with life and different situations on the ice, off the ice… To kind of have the year that I had last year and be pretty healthy and then continue to come into this year and feel good and have some stability, it just feels great. Obviously, you make plans and God laughs, but it’s been nice to get to this point for sure.”
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