Isles wave white flag on ‘08, bring up Okposo
March 17th, 2008 by jcapisles
Well, if you are a fan of the team from Long Island, put your angst on the back burner for now. The Islanders have decided to showcase their “chosen one” for the final nine games of the regular season.
Nobody knows for sure what kind of impact 19-year-old Kyle Okposo will have in the NHL, but, at least for now, he will give the Islanders watchability for the rest of this disappointing campaign.
Okposo is the type of blue chip prospect the Islanders have had just twice in recent memory if you don’t count the magic Bill Torrey worked in the 1970s. Only Pat LaFontaine and Rick DiPietro garnered as much attention and hype as what will surround Okposo when he steps on the Nassau Coliseum ice for the first time Tuesday against Toronto.
“This guy has a tremendous amount of skill,” coach Ted Nolan told IslandersTV.
Compared quite favorably to Calgary’s Jarome Iginla due to his Nigerian heritage and sniper-like prowess, Okposo will give this franchise a shot in the arm regardless of how he performs Tuesday and throughout the remaining nine games. Make no mistake, the transition from D-I to the AHL is often a wake-up call for even the best of prospects, but Okposo is basically jumping from a year-plus in college to 29 games in the minors to the grand stage. That’s a quick jump for anyone, but for an Islander prospect that’s Star Trek-like beaming. Nolan was quite measured in his comments on what Okposo’s capabilities, at least in the interim, will be, but you couldn’t help but notice a bit of a sparkle in the coach’s eye.
“That’s one thing I try not to do. If you compare Kyle to Iginla … Iginla’s a pretty special player and if Kyle turns out to be similar to him that will be pretty good. I think the bottom line is we have to appreciate Kyle for who Kyle is … to compare him to Iginla or (Joe) Sakic is kind of unfair because if he doesn’t meet those expectations early people are going to be disappointed.
“I’d rather go on the cautious side and say he’s gonna be a great player. Right now, to be fair, he’s a young kid. He has to find his niche in this league and once he does people will be saying he’s Kyle Okposo, not anyone else.”
Okposo (pronounced “OH-poso”) will witness the Isles-Rangers series twice as part of a remaining schedule that features mostly Atlantic Division rivals. And since the Isles are basically done for this season, a chance to create a roadmap going forward is in Okposo’s hands. All indications are despite his relative lack of bulk — 6-foot, 195 pounds — Okposo has the goods to be a force for years. A cannon of a right-handed shot, quick hands and skates and leadership qualities not often found in someone so young are just a few of his attributes, characteristics that could sell out his jersey in minutes.
The seventh overall pick in the 2006 draft, Okposo registered 40 points in 40 games as a freshman at the University of Minnesota. He then quit school and signed with the Islanders in January and went on to put up 24 points during his 29-game stay with Bridgeport. Initial reports of his hefty skills have been corroborated by several of his minor league teammates, who now also find themselves up with the big club because the Islanders have been destroyed by injuries.
Ben Walter, now a 4th-liner with the Isles, told Newsday Okposo is the real deal. His transition to the NHL will have its bumps and bruises but there’s no question he should be around for a long, long time. What struck Walter and several others about the U-19 Team USA star is his playmaking skills, which, considering he’s a wing and not a center, are unusually good. It may take some time for Okposo to become a true, proven 40-goal scorer, but he seems to grasp the team-first concept which Nolan has employed since he arrived on Long Island at the start of the 2006-07 season.
“If he’s one-on-one with a guy, he’s going to try and make a move to beat him, and he can put the puck in the net,” Walter said. “He definitely knows how to score. I’d say he’s a bit of (a playmaker and scorer), but he definitely loves to score goals.”
Obviously any comparison to Iginla without playing a single NHL game is kind of unfair. But since we’re living in the future here I kind of think more about LaFontaine than Iginla because Okposo seems to share more qualities with the former Islander great and Hall-of-Famer than he does Calgary’s greatest player. First off, Okposo is American, second, LaFontaine was every bit the passer that he was the scorer and, third, LaFontaine wasn’t the biggest guy on the ice but could skate like the wind and had a bull’s-eye on his back wherever he went.
Regardless of Okposo’s lack of experience, he brings an intangible this franchise desperately needs. He has star power without anyone knowing the slightest thing about him personally. In laymans terms, he’s an enigma wrapped in a puzzle with the potential to be the next truly great NHL sniper. Rarely have the Islanders drafted or brought up anyone even remotely close to the potential this guy has this quickly.
Nolan basically said straight out that rather than put Okposo on a line with other Bridgeport call-ups like Walter or Jeff Tambellini, he will match him up with a “responsible” NHL veteran like Richard Park, someone who knows his role and is quite cautious and deliberate on the ice when it comes to his responsibilities.
Best case scenario: Okposo doesn’t get hurt and opens enough eyes in the short term to warrant a clean slate come next training camp. I think at this point barring an unforseen flop he’ll be with the Islanders to start ‘08-’09. And if Garth Snow makes good on his veiled promise to spend money and infuse offense into this club in the offseason, Okposo won’t have to deal with the pressure of having to be the go-to guy next season. He’ll be able to quietly just play his game and get accustomed to the rigors of an 82-game schedule.
Right now and to start next season Okposo should be looked at as just another part of the machine. Everyone screamed for DiPietro to be called up after he was drafted No. 1 overall a few years ago. The Islanders, smartly, waited for him to mature a bit. Now the jury may still be out on how much DP has truly matured, but, physically, he’s much more complete of a goalie than he was when he was drafted. With just nine games to play and then an entire offseason of bulking up and conditioning, Okposo will come into camp as someone ready to make a serious contribution as opposed to now when he’s nothing more than an attendance-draw for a team with nothing to play for.
But who really knows? Maybe Pat Iginla or Jarome LaFontaine will show up and get us all giddy heading into our April tee-times.
Posted in DP, Okposo, Uncategorized