'They are my brothers' | How the Sabres formed a tight bond in 2021-22

Kyle Okposo sees the young group of players currently occupying the Buffalo Sabres dressing room and is reminded of his days on Long Island.
Okposo joined a last-place Islanders team as a 19-year-old in 2007-08. Other young players followed in the ensuing years: John Tavares, Josh Bailey, Travis Hamonic. They grew up with each other.
Together, they turned the Islanders into a playoff team in 2012-13.

"The guys are going to grow up together here," Okposo said. "… That's what I did on the Island. I was a young guy, and we grew up together and it all happened kind of the way it was supposed to. These guys are going to do that here and it's something really special."
The Sabres had 17 players under the age of 25 suit up this season, including their leading goal scorer (Tage Thompson), their leaders in average ice time (Rasmus Dahlin and Henri Jokiharju), and the first-overall pick in the NHL Draft (Owen Power).
They watch and talk about hockey. They linger in the meal room and on the ice before and after practices. They gather at each other's houses.
"They are my brothers," Dahlin said. "We see each other everyday and we are getting really close."

Most of all, they share a collective vision. Mittelstadt texted Dylan Cozens when the Tampa Bay Lightning lifted the Stanley Cup last July. The message: "We need one of those."
Their growth over the ensuing nine months only strengthened the belief that they can eventually get there.

"We've just become so close this year, a lot of young guys on this team," Cozens said. "We're kind of just figuring it all out together. If we keep that together here and keep that going for the next few years, we kind of grow up together, we're going to be a dangerous team, and I think we all kind of see that."
Their growth has been fostered by an environment in which individuality is encouraged, a tone set by Okposo and his fellow veterans. It has been amplified by the philosophies of coach Don Granato, who is unafraid to place young players into high-leverage situations and implores them to not fear mistakes.

Peyton Krebs joined the Sabres in November, part of the trade that sent Jack Eichel to Vegas. He was 20 years old and had known only one NHL organization.
"I'll be honest, there was sometimes when I was nervous," he said.
By the time Krebs met with the media for his end-of-season press conference, he had visions of one day owning a house in the area surrounded by trees and a backyard rink.
"It doesn't matter who you are, where you're from," Krebs said. "You're going to get treated the exact same way and that's all you can ask for at the end of the day. Everyone loves being here."

Some of the players have already grown together. Thompson, Dahlin, and Casey Mittelstadt were roommates when their Buffalo tenures began in 2018. All have had ups and downs - assignments to the minors, healthy scratches, outside pressure.

Thompson scored 38 goals this season while Dahlin emerged as an All-Star defenseman. Mittelstadt, still only 23 and having ended the season on a high note after dealing with injuries, is a candidate to follow in their footsteps next season.
By then, Thompson will have taken another step. He and his wife are expecting their first child this summer.
"It's going to continue to evolve," Okposo said. "Different leaders are going to continue to pop out of that group. Different personalities are going to continue to grow. You know, guys are going to have kids are going to start to have families and then they'll evolve as people."

Here are more takeaways from Day 2 of exit interviews at KeyBank Center.

Krebs, Samuelsson to join Amerks' playoff run

Krebs and Mattias Samuelsson will join the Rochester Americans ahead of their playoff series against the Belleville Senators, which opens with Game 1 at Blue Cross Arena on Wednesday.
Samuelsson said he is dealing with a day-to-day injury but will continue his rehab in Rochester.
"Hopefully we can do some damage in the postseason," he said.

The Amerks earned a postseason berth on the final day of the regular season with Toronto's regulation loss to Belleville. Rochester won the prior afternoon thanks in part to a three-assist performance by Casey Fitzgerald, who was sent down from Buffalo that morning.
Rochester's series against Belleville is best-of-three, with the winner advancing to a best-of-five series against No.1 seed Utica.
"We just can't put too much of that pressure on ourselves that as soon as we get down, all of a sudden things are going to be amazing," Krebs said. "It's a really good league, there's a lot of good players. Obviously, we want to make the most of this opportunity to be the best we can."

Jokiharju to play at Worlds

Henri Jokiharju will represent host country Finland at the IIHF World Championship, which begins on May 13. The event will be held in Helsinki and Tampere, the latter of which is Jokiharju's hometown.
"Just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," he said.

Rasmus Dahlin (Sweden) and Tage Thompson (United States) also said they had discussions about the tournament but did not confirm their commitments. Granato will be an assistant coach for Team USA.
Power confirmed he will not play for Canada.