The Captain of Your Buffalo Sabres Kyle Okposo, Assistant Captains Zemgus Girgensons and Rasmus Dahlin

[Sabres Fan in NS]

9 hours ago, steveoath said:

I think the insane part is thinking KA would trade Kyle tbh. 

It would be a big mistake IMO.

Also, Kyle will NOT request a trade.  Never !!

[Buffalonill]

3 hours ago, Sabres Fan in NS said:

It would be a big mistake IMO.

Also, Kyle will NOT request a trade.  Never !!

Buffalo would send him to a cup contender if he wanted 

And he can come back after 

[Taro T]

6 hours ago, Doohickie said:

Recent history is that most Sabres captains have been traded.  I might, however, point out that this may be a byproduct of the rapid changes the Sabres have gone through in the last decade +.

Nope.  Perreault is one of the very few that didn't get traded.  Death, taxes, & the Sabres trading away their captain are 3 things you can count on.  😉

 

[PerreaultForever]

On 9/25/2022 at 5:16 PM, Eleven said:

A letter on the chest won't stop the Sabres from trading him and may even bump his value, like Pominville (yes I realize he was named captain before his UFA year).  And I do think the Sabres would retain salary for the right return.

They might, but that would seem to go against the whole plan of building a new culture. Isn't there a new desire for continuity? Isn't that part of it? I would say if Kyle is named captain they plan to re-sign him. However, 

21 hours ago, steveoath said:

I think the insane part is thinking KA would trade Kyle tbh. 

Nothing insane about it. Pay attention to what this team is doing. There isn't a player over the age of 24 who KA wouldn't trade, with the one exception of Tuch. 

[chileanseabass]

I think they re-sign him to a one year deal, then, if he wants, he retires and enters the front office as an AGM. 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

43 minutes ago, chileanseabass said:

I think they re-sign him to a one year deal, then, if he wants, he retires and enters the front office as an AGM. 

I agree with this, but think it will be a 2 year player contract not 1 year.  Then AGM or some such after that.

Long time no see.  How are you doing?  Don't be a stranger.

[Curt]

I think people might be underestimating the chances that Dahlin ends up the long term Captain.  There have been a lot of little stories and such about how driven he is, how he is pushing things forward in training camp, and getting on guys if they taking it easy in practice.

I could easily see Okposo as the C for 1-2 years, then Dahlin taking over.

[pastajoe]

I still think it should be Tuch. First line player, fan of team growing up in Syracuse area, right age to grow with team.

[Doohicksie]

Don't rule out Thompson

[PerreaultForever]

2 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Don't rule out Thompson

or Dahlin. You can't rule anybody out really (maybe Bjork) but I'm not a big fan of naming top scorers as captains unless they really really really stand out like a Crosby, but they have to have leader personalities to go with it. idk what Thompson brings in that way, but I want him to score and focus on that. 

[Jävə Keith]

In 2 years Cozens gets my vote. 

[Zamboni]

It will be interesting to see who’s the next captain after KO.

We should do a poll with only like 3 or 4 likely realistic logical choices.  And bump the thread after the next captain is named. See how accurate we were.

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, Jävə Keith said:

In 2 years Cozens gets my vote. 

I think maybe, but it's still a maybe. To this point Cozens still hasn't proven himself. yet. 

[triumph_communes]

Tuch b

[Jävə Keith]

13 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

I think maybe, but it's still a maybe. To this point Cozens still hasn't proven himself. yet. 

For me, leadership and learning the skill sets of how to lead men are most important for Cozens (or anyone else for that matter) before he can be earn the C.  He has some natural leadership traits (rare), but he needs to be mentored under a seasoned leader (see Okposo) for a couple years before he will be ready for that important and weighty mantle.

We should have learned our lesson with the former captain who shall not be named. ; )

Talent does not equal Leadership.

[Taro T]

24 minutes ago, Jävə Keith said:

For me, leadership and learning the skill sets of how to lead men are most important for Cozens (or anyone else for that matter) before he can be earn the C.  He has some natural leadership traits (rare), but he needs to be mentored under a seasoned leader (see Okposo) for a couple years before he will be ready for that important and weighty mantle.

We should have learned our lesson with the former captain who shall not be named. ; )

Talent does not equal Leadership.

Amen to the bolded.

Really believe that they have enough character in the dressing room that the players should be allowed to vote for who wears the letters.  If it ends up close, let the coaches cast the deciding vote; but these kids seem to actually be (mature) adults & my expectation is they'll identify the guys that really are leading & not just vote via popularity contest or vote for who the marketing department might want.  (Which seems to be how the coach chose to give out the last C (and the co-primary A's before that).)

[PerreaultForever]

4 hours ago, Jävə Keith said:

For me, leadership and learning the skill sets of how to lead men are most important for Cozens (or anyone else for that matter) before he can be earn the C.  He has some natural leadership traits (rare), but he needs to be mentored under a seasoned leader (see Okposo) for a couple years before he will be ready for that important and weighty mantle.

We should have learned our lesson with the former captain who shall not be named. ; )

Talent does not equal Leadership.

Exactly. Which is why it should be based on the player's personality and not his skill set. BUT the thing is you also want continuity if you are trying to build a culture. I just don't think Kyle is part of that plan so a temporary (as in a year or two) captain is a bad idea imo. It's time to hand that role to a guy who you believe is part of this now and will still be going forward. 

[JohnC]

I have little concern over the issue of captaincy. There are a number of instrumental and high character players on this roster that will exhibit leadership regardless of official designation or not. Most people favor Okposso, as I do, to be the captain. If someone else was selected to be the captain it would have no effect on his play and how he would conduct himself on the ice and in the locker room. What's even more important than making the right selection is having enough of the right kind of people on your roster so that there is enough internal leadership in the room that can properly deal with any issues within the group. 

[Brawndo]

 

[Brawndo]

 

[Brawndo]

 

[Mustache of God]

Well deserved. Congrats Okposo!

[steveoath]

OK, where can I get a 'C' for my Okposo jersey?

[LGR4GM]

As it should be

[inkman]

Just now, LGR4GM said:

As it should be

I’m not sure how anyone came to any other conclusion after listening to ever player, coach and Sabres related personnel.  They have praised KO leadership endlessly.  For some reason, because Tuch goes to Bills games and tells stories about how he was a fan growing up meant he had some sort of inside track on the C.