BUFFALO – While Odin Okposo was getting ready for bed, his father received a call with some breaking news.

The elder Okposo would continue playing hockey next season, a new one-year, $2.5 million contract with the Buffalo Sabres finalized moments earlier.

“His reaction was worth it,” an emotional Kyle Okposo said on a Zoom call. “Sometimes I forget how much it means to them, especially my older two kids.”

Then, 20 minutes later, while out for a walk, the Sabres captain shared the news with his wife, Danielle, and daughter, Ellie, when they pulled up upon seeing him on their way home. He could hear an elated Ellie screaming as they drove away.

“They were just so happy and excited,” Okposo said. “It definitely is a huge factor in my decision-making, your family, because you’re not just thinking about yourself. You’re thinking about them and what this means to them as well.”

At the end of the season, Okposo, 35, said he needed some time to think about the future, wanting to talk to his family, but that Buffalo was the only place he’d want to play. The decision to return, he said, came pretty quick.

The winger, who was named captain on Oct. 8, 2022, just completed a seven-year, $42 million contract he signed as an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2016. He was among a group of several high-profile free agents on the market that summer and then-general manager Tim Murray eyed him as a piece to help accelerate the Sabres' push out of a rebuild into a contender. Okposo believed in the team’s potential to reach that level.

But that never came to be. The Sabres twice finished last in the NHL standings and never higher than the bottom third. On top of that, the organization endured seemingly endless turnover.

These days, however, stability reigns. General manager Kevyn Adams and coach Don Granato have steadied the ship and under their guidance, the team appears within reach of snapping their now 12-year playoff drought.

“There is definitely some unfinished business,” Okposo said. “I've been through a lot here, as everybody on this call knows, and I just think we're scratching the surface. I think that it's pretty evident by what's happened in the playoffs this year that we're not very far from reaching the top of the mountain. It's something that I had set out to do when I had my introductory press conference, and I did not know how much work was gonna have to go into it. But I think that we're extremely close.”

The Sabres finished one point behind the Florida Panthers for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. They entered the season with promise after a solid run to close out the 2021-22 campaign, but with minimal expectations.

That’ll change heading into next season as they look to take the next step and will be another learning experience for the group.

“We can’t be scared about the expectations,” Okposo said. “You have to set your goal. And should our goal be to make the playoffs? And should our goal be to be two points better than we were this year? No. Let’s accept it, let’s accept it now.

“So you set the goal of winning a Stanley Cup, and then you don’t touch that and you don’t let that weigh you down at all from the day to day of the season. … But we cannot run from those expectations anymore. The time is now. Our window, I think it’s opening and we have to be prepared for that. And everybody’s got to come better, starting with me. And I think that that’s the expectation we have to set.”