Buffalo’s team captain goes to Florida in deadline deal
The Buffalo Sabres were expectedly busy on trade deadline day, making three trades with Florida, Philadelphia, and San Jose for future draft choices. The most consequential was the deal sending team captain Kyle Okposo to the Florida Panthers for minor league defenseman Calle Sjalin and a 2024 seventh-round pick.
The deal was not a significant return for the veteran winger, but Sabres GM Kevyn Adams indicated that was secondary to giving the 35-year-old the respect of sending him to a preferred destination to have a chance at winning a Stanley Cup.
“I have a lot of respect for people that are selfless in this game and what (Kyle has) given to this organization,” Adams said on Friday after the trade deadline. “When you have a player that (is) a captain of your team, you owe people the respect to have an honest conversation and understand exactly how they feel and they need to understand exactly the job that I have and where I'm at. I'll keep the conversation private, but he made it very clear to me what he was hoping to do and where he was hoping to go (at) the deadline. And fortunately, we were able to make it happen."
Okposo joins former Sabre Sam Reinhart in Florida, who are leading the Atlantic Division and are one of the leading contenders to repeat as Eastern Conference champions and get back to the Stanley Cup Final.
The Sabres in return got Sjalin, a 2017 draft pick of the New York Rangers, who signed with Florida in 2022 and has three assists in 22 games with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. The 24-year-old blueliner has been assigned to the Rochester Americans.
Buffalo also sent defenseman Ryan Johnson and forward Lukas Rousek down to the Amerks. Johnson, who played 41 games with the Sabres after starting this year in the AHL, was sent down to get more playing time and to qualify to play in the Calder Cup Playoffs next month.
LATEST THN BUFFALO STORIES