How Kyle Okposo is approaching his new role with the Panthers

Kristen Shilton, ESPN NHL reporterMar 18, 2024, 07:00 AM ET

CloseKristen Shilton is a national NHL reporter for ESPN.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Kyle Okposo knew it all in Buffalo. Through nearly eight seasons, Okposo set a tone for the Sabres. He was a guy with the answers.

Then Okposo was traded to Florida — for defenseman Calle Sjalin and a conditional 2024 seventh-round pick — on March 8.

Suddenly, he had nothing but questions.

“It’s so many little things,” Okposo told ESPN. “Like, what do you wear on the plane here? Do you wear ties? Where do you sit on the bus? All those details you don’t have to think about when you’re somewhere for a really long time. You feel like a young guy again now, which is fine; which is good. But it’s a whirlwind. I was just in one place for years. I’ve never done an in-season trade like this before. You’re trying to find a rhythm. It’s new. And it’s hard.”

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This is the trade deadline’s messy aftermath. The human side.

When the months and weeks and days filled with breathless commentary and speculation about who’s going where finally ends, the players swapped by their teams have only just begun to figure out their new normal.

In Okposo’s case, it began with phone calls. Dozens of them.

“Everything just starts blowing up,” he said. “There’s text messages [first] and then you start to get calls from the people in the organization here in Florida. You’re answering Florida numbers, but you don’t really know who they are. You’re just talking to different people, having little conversations to get to further conversations about logistics, and then once the logistical things are handled, then you get to take a moment. And I went to talk to my kids. But your phone never stops ringing throughout the whole day.”

It was less than 18 hours later that Okposo said goodbye to his wife and four (still bemused) children in Buffalo to catch a ride to Florida. The Panthers were hosting the Calgary Flames, and Okposo wanted to be in the…

Source link : https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/39753864/nhl-kyle-okposo-trade-panthers-sabres-stanley-cup-playoffs

Author : Kristen Shilton

Publish date : 2024-03-18 11:17:25

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