Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - It was a storybook ending for Kyle Okposo and his playing career in the National Hockey League.
The 36-year-old winger announced on Thursday that he is retiring from hockey after 17 seasons playing with the New York Islanders, Buffalo Sabres and Florida Panthers.
Okposo spent parts of eight seasons with the Sabres after signing with Buffalo as an unrestricted free agent during the 2016 offseason. In 516 games played in Western New York, Okposo scored 103 goals and added 142 assists for 245 points.
Arguably Okposo's best season in Buffalo came during the 2021-22 campaign, where he scored 21 goals and added 24 assists for 45 points in 74 games played.
The native of St. Paul, Minn. was also an integral leadership piece in the locker room for most of his tenure with the Sabres. Okposo served as an alternate captain in five of his first six seasons in Buffalo, before being named as the 20th captain of the franchise to start the 2022-23 season.
Just before the NHL Trade Deadline this past season, the Sabres moved their captain to the Panthers as a way to give Okposo one last run at the Stanley Cup in his career.
Despite playing only six regular season games for the Panthers, Okposo was able to be an impact depth piece during Florida's Stanley Cup, appearing in 17 games and putting up two assists in just 8:33 of average ice-time. However, it all paid off for Okposo, who was able to hoist the Stanley Cup after the Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers in a seven-game series.
Okposo was originally drafted by the Islanders as the seventh overall pick of the 2006 NHL Draft. He went on to play parts of two seasons of college hockey at the University of Minnesota before making the jump to the Islanders in the middle of the 2007-08 campaign.
With the Islanders, Okposo played parts of nine seasons, tallying 139 goals and adding 209 assists for 369 points in 529 games.
In total, Okposo played 1,051 games in the NHL, putting up 242 goals and 372 assists for 614 points. That puts him 52nd all-time in points among American-born players in NHL history.
