LISTEN: Granato: Kyle Okposo 'unequivocally our No. 1 leader'

Sabres head coach Don Granato joined the "Howard and Jeremy Show" for the first of his weekly visits this season
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Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – As one of the youngest teams in the National Hockey League, the Buffalo Sabres come into the regular season with lots of excitement with a team that is still in a development stage with their players.

With any young roster, there is always veteran leadership, as well.

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It was announced over the weekend that forward Kyle Okposo is the 20th captain in Sabres franchise history, along with Rasmus Dahlin and Zemgus Girgensons being named as alternate captains.

Sabres head coach Don Granato says it wasn’t a difficult decision to name Okposo the captain. With the youngest projected 20-man roster heading into the season, Okposo's leadership will be beneficial for the young players.

“This guy is unequivocally our No. 1 leader," Granato said on Tuesday during his first visit of the season during the "Howard and Jeremy Show". "He sets himself apart just through what he does every day and what he's done in his career, and how he carries himself like this is the role model we want mentoring our youth.”

With the young group of players on the Sabres roster, Granato still believes they are developing in their young age.

“Our entire team is still in that window of high development stage," Granato said with Howard Simon and Jeremy White. "Whether that's [Casey] Mittelstadt, [Tage] Thompson, [Dylan] Cozens, [Peyton] Krebs, and even [Alex] Tuch, there's so much more to him that that's really, really exciting. So I would classify us still as a young team.”

This team also has plenty of returning players, which can be a big help for Granato and the young team.

“Lots of returning players that know our team identity, they know our system's objectives within the identity we wanna play. That helps me get any new players or newcomers up to speed faster,” Granato said.

The Sabres finished the 2021-22 season on a 100-plus-point pace in the final 25-30 games, which has led to a lot of excitement around the team heading into the 2022-23 campaign. However, with that excitement potentially comes some higher expectations.

“I'm not concerned about it, because I think our players accept that they're playing underneath greater expectations, and they want that," Granato said. "I think that will help us, as coaches and us as an organization, push the guys further.”

Hear more of Granato’s appearance on the “Howard and Jeremy Show” in the player below:

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Don Granato with Howard and Jeremy
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