Confirmed Signing with Link: [BUF] Kyle Okposo (7 Years, $6.000M AAV)

[LetsGoIslanders]

6 is about fair for Okposo. I thought he would get 7 plus from some stupid GM.

Not a bad deal for Buffalo, I like him better as a player than Lucic or Ladd, he's easily more skilled than either of them, although Ladd is a better two-way player and Lucic is easily a better physical presence, in my opinion.

Very good 2nd line wing, borderline 1st liner. Getting paid for what he is and he'll help. Okposo and the Sabres both win with this deal.

It's a good deal for Buffalo at 6 million. Kyle has gotten a lot more consistent with his game, but he still has nights where he disappears. That said, he has a lot of character, and that might make up for it.

 

[Beerz]

So I live outside the US?!? What are you talking about? Is this some funny comment that I don't get? I live in the south east (in the US). Taxes are lower, fees, regulations, etc are lower or non-existent. And yet somehow the sun rises without a bunch of gov't funded crap leaching money from my salary in order to pay for a bunch of gov't programs that pretend to make life better.

Maybe you need to get out more. I have family that finally moved away recently, and they're still trying to wrap their heads around the fact that they keep more salary, and all sorts of various money-grab fees don't exist. It's almost like living in a free country. You should try it.

I think he misread your comment of

It has schools too, and my school district is the best in my county.

County as Country

 

[Not Sure]

So I live outside the US?!? What are you talking about? Is this some funny comment that I don't get? I live in the south east (in the US). Taxes are lower, fees, regulations, etc are lower or non-existent. And yet somehow the sun rises without a bunch of gov't funded crap leaching money from my salary in order to pay for a bunch of gov't programs that pretend to make life better.

Maybe you need to get out more. I have family that finally moved away recently, and they're still trying to wrap their heads around the fact that they keep more salary, and all sorts of various money-grab fees don't exist. It's almost like living in a free country. You should try it.

well your comment about having schools that are the best in your country made it sound like you moved out of the US. I've lived all over. I moved from Buffalo, to Orlando, to Vegas, to Tonawanda, and finally bought a home back in Buffalo where I started. Like I said, we all have things that are more or less important to us, but the fact is state taxes really aren't that much. You really don't even start getting dinged until you actually own a home and are paying property and school taxes, which are where Buffalo and NY in general get this "high tax" designation. State taxes everywhere are a pittance and the state tax this discussion started on are actually more per person in downstate, you're thinking about local taxes not state taxes, it has nothing to do with NY and everything to do with the city/town/village you live in.

When I was looking at homes we started out looking in Cheektowaga and AmhersT, property taxes would have been essentially half our mortgage at around $7k a year, we settled on a bigger cheaper house and pay about $2k in taxes because it's a double, vast difference, and it has nothing to do with sending money downstate.

Here are NYS income tax brackets, at the highest level it's just over 8%, that is not very much to pay, I'm sorry but I just don't get where you see that noticeable a difference in your wallet even paying an extra 4-5%

4% on the first $8,400 of taxable income.
4.5% on taxable income between $8,401 and $11,600.
5.25% on taxable income between $11,601 and $13,750.
5.9% on taxable income between $13,751 and $21,150.
6.45% on taxable income between $21,151 and $79,600.
6.65% on taxable income between $79,601 and $212,500.
6.85% on taxable income between $212,501 and $1,062,650.
8.82% on taxable income of more than $1,062,651

 

[Not Sure]

I think he misread your comment of

County as Country

Indeed I did, sorry

 

[CorgisPer60]

Out of all the top UFAs on the market today, only Okposo comes close to the value of the contract. Ladd would too, but 7 years is too long. Buffalo has a decent forward core, but now needs to do something about that defense

 

[Shmuffalo]

My only problem with this signing is the term. But it is not exclusive to Okoposo. Same for Lucic's comparable deal. The player I like and given a choice I would have taken him over Lucic. But 7 years is a long time for a 28 year old.

The positive I think he will be an instant impact player with the Sabres. So short and mid term it was a good signing, we will see how Okoposo plays when he nears the end of his contract.

Price you pay for doing business on July 1.

He's being paid upfront, so if he doesn't workout, it's an easily moveable contract. I was hesitant about Okposo, but I'm really getting excited about him

 

[Yatzhee]

Out of all the top UFAs on the market today, only Okposo comes close to the value of the contract. Ladd would too, but 7 years is too long. Buffalo has a decent forward core, but now needs to do something about that defense

Outside of depth signings and Risto Buffalo looks to let their youngens on the Blue line continue to grow.

Risto, Bogo and Franson/Nelson on the right side.
Kulikuv, Gorges and McCabe on the left side.

Ghule will be depth in Rochester and most likely Gorges replacement when the time comes. I'm fine with this.

 

[tony d]

Good signing by Buffalo. Okposo was 1 of the top free agent forwards available

 

[tade]

Pretty good value for Buffalo, I think Okposo fits really well for them. Solid deal compared to some others (Nielsen, Backes, Ladd). He's younger and better.

 

[Husko]

Maybe they enjoy losing 20% of what they earn to state taxes every year? The great thing about New York is you can live 350 miles west of New York City and you still have to pay New York State's ridiculous taxes which mostly get funneled back into New York City.

This is completely false. It's a lie perpetuated by WNYers. In actuality, NYC pays out much, much more in taxes than it gets back. The truth, which upstaters hate to acknowledge, is that NYC financially supports the rest of the state. WNY pays out way, way, way less in taxes than it takes in from the tax base.

http://www.rockinst.org/pdf/nys_government/2011-12-Giving_and_Getting.pdf

 

[Islanderfan17]

Not a horrible deal by any means. When KO is on, he's on. He doss have disappearing acts though and the one frustrating thing about him is he tries to lonewolfs it a bit too much sometimes, I think that's why him and JT didn't exactly have the craziest chemistry.

 

[Moskau]

This is completely false. It's a lie perpetuated by WNYers. In actuality, NYC pays out much, much more in taxes than it gets back. The truth, which upstaters hate to acknowledge, is that NYC financially supports the rest of the state. WNY pays out way, way, way less in taxes than it takes in from the tax base.

http://www.rockinst.org/pdf/nys_government/2011-12-Giving_and_Getting.pdf

That's fine but WNY is not Upstate NY. If you have ever lived in a WNY town that is not Rochester or Buffalo you'd know that your state taxes go to one of two places. To bail out all the undeserving farmers who are in debt in the area and to NYC. It certainly isn't going to many schools around here or to fix roads.

 

[Husko]

That's fine but WNY is not Upstate NY. If you have ever lived in a WNY town that is not Rochester or Buffalo you'd know that your state taxes go to one of two places. To bail out all the undeserving farmers who are in debt in the area and to NYC. It certainly isn't going to many schools around here or to fix roads.

Lived most of my life in Jamestown, NY. Again, NYC is OVERPAYING in taxes (provides 48.7% of the tax base, but receives less than 40% of tax spending - it's about a 4 billion dollar loss for NYC). NYC is a big boogeyman that upstate loves to demonize, and being attached certainly has its burdens on upstate (business regulations, minimum wage, etc.), but without NYC's tax base upstate NY would need to cut back spending in a major way. And yes, WNY is part of upstate NY. Everything above NYC, its northern suburbs, and Long Island (downstate) is considered upstate. Regardless, we're getting off topic now...

 

[Pure Slaughter Value]

Pretty good value for Buffalo, I think Okposo fits really well for them. Solid deal compared to some others (Nielsen, Backes, Ladd). He's younger and better.

You got the younger part better. Nielsen is a superior hockey player to Okposo.

 

[tade]

You got the younger part better. Nielsen is a superior hockey player to Okposo.

We'll see for how long.

 

[Meichel Kane]

I'm usually against "splash" moves in free agency, but Buffalo really minimized risk with the player they went after and the way they structured his deal.

 

[Yatzhee]

This is completely false. It's a lie perpetuated by WNYers. In actuality, NYC pays out much, much more in taxes than it gets back. The truth, which upstaters hate to acknowledge, is that NYC financially supports the rest of the state. WNY pays out way, way, way less in taxes than it takes in from the tax base.

http://www.rockinst.org/pdf/nys_government/2011-12-Giving_and_Getting.pdf

2 of the 9 counties in WNY are top 10 taxes per capita in the nation. Niagara County just crossed the no return line of 47% government employment vs. 53% private sector. Erie county is reversing this trend, albeit slowly. Cost of living adjustments (COLA) are near non-existent. Wages are going down, particularly among organized labor.

Buffalo is on the up tick for equity investment, but the surrounding suburbs are still heavily reliant on public projects. The taxes locally reflect this.

Edit: oh, and you don't go from 3.2 million to 1.6 million population regionally without some off setting help. The fact is free trade, weather and local and state tax policies combined with the end of the industrial era crushed this region. 50+ years of decline before it started a rebirth. I could go on about how money is funneled from the NYSTPF and other non retirement hedge funds overwhelmingly invest around down state, but why bother, the proof is in the pudding.

 

[Not Sure]

2 of the 9 counties in WNY are top 10 taxes per capita in the nation. Niagara County just crossed the no return line of 47% government employment vs. 53% private sector. Erie county is reversing this trend, albeit slowly. Cost of living adjustments (COLA) are near non-existent. Wages are going down, particularly among organized labor.

Buffalo is on the up tick for equity investment, but the surrounding suburbs are still heavily reliant on public projects. The taxes locally reflect this.

Edit: oh, and you don't go from 3.2 million to 1.6 million population regionally without some off setting help. The fact is free trade, weather and local and state tax policies combined with the end of the industrial era crushed this region. 50+ years of decline before it started a rebirth. I could go on about how money is funneled from the NYSTPF and other non retirement hedge funds overwhelmingly invest around down state, but why bother, the proof is in the pudding.

That's because when the factories closed in the 70s and 80s we went to a heavily service based economy. Education and Healthcare are huge sections of the workforce. Even private sector jobs are heavily influenced by an increase in government spending in the region.

the argument politicians try to make is that upstate money is funneled downstate, but it's really not. They always suggest all of our money goes to NYC, but in reality it only looks that way because there are more people and therefore a larger raw number of people using the services provided by the state. State taxes aren't higher in upstate, state taxes are state taxes, they're the same everywhere, WNY pays a higher percentage compared to the value of their property in local taxes, and local taxes stay in your area. We pay higher rates of school and property tax, but not actual cash just rates. It's because there are less people to spread around the tax burden, also there is a factor of it being more expensive to run the government here but that more a product of the population decline than anything else. Buffalo has a beuracracy setup for a city much larger than it currently is. Much of the population left to the suburbs and elsewhere but the government never really shrunk accordingly, and they are still responsible for an infrastructure established for a city much larger than is now needed.

Suburban and rural politicians love to use this line of thought, and they bend the facts to sound good to their base. The idea is "we pay higher taxes and all of the state tax money funnels to NYC so the city politicians can pay for their pet projects". In reality, the higher tax rates are in property/school taxes, and more money appears to end up in NYC because they have a larger population base which also means they pay a larger percentage of total tax revenue. The same towns and county's who elect officials on this message have no idea just how much they get for how little they pay. Smaller states without a city the size of NYC are much worse off. It's much like a state like Montana complaining about Federal income taxes when they take much more real money out of the government than they could ever hope to pay on their own.

Sloan for example pays some of the highest property taxes in the country, but that's because their property assessed value is pretty low, and just about all the money spent in the town comes from outside sources. They use cheektowaga schools and split police and fire services with Buffalo and Cheektowaga. Since there's only about 3,500 people live ing there, their own taxes no matter how high would never be enough to establish their own school system, public works projects, even something as trivial as snow removal becomes unsustainable. There are far more Sloans in NY than Buffalo/NYC's, if the population of the major metro areas didn't bail out all the small villages and townships it would take them decades to pay for things we consider trivial, like road or bridge repair. The argument from suburban and rural areas about tax rates being too high is akin to an 18 year old child telling their parents they're adults now and should be able to make their own decisions and take care of themselves while living in the parents home, eating their food, driving their car, and complaining when parents ask for a few bucks to teach them responsibility.

 

[Yatzhee]

That's because when the factories closed in the 70s and 80s we went to a heavily service based economy. Education and Healthcare are huge sections of the workforce. Even private sector jobs are heavily influenced by an increase in government spending in the region.

the argument politicians try to make is that upstate money is funneled downstate, but it's really not. They always suggest all of our money goes to NYC, but in reality it only looks that way because there are more people and therefore a larger raw number of people using the services provided by the state. State taxes aren't higher in upstate, state taxes are state taxes, they're the same everywhere, WNY pays a higher percentage compared to the value of their property in local taxes, and local taxes stay in your area. We pay higher rates of school and property tax, but not actual cash just rates. It's because there are less people to spread around the tax burden, also there is a factor of it being more expensive to run the government here but that more a product of the population decline than anything else. Buffalo has a beuracracy setup for a city much larger than it currently is. Much of the population left to the suburbs and elsewhere but the government never really shrunk accordingly, and they are still responsible for an infrastructure established for a city much larger than is now needed.

Suburban and rural politicians love to use this line of thought, and they bend the facts to sound good to their base. The idea is "we pay higher taxes and all of the state tax money funnels to NYC so the city politicians can pay for their pet projects". In reality, the higher tax rates are in property/school taxes, and more money appears to end up in NYC because they have a larger population base which also means they pay a larger percentage of total tax revenue. The same towns and county's who elect officials on this message have no idea just how much they get for how little they pay. Smaller states without a city the size of NYC are much worse off. It's much like a state like Montana complaining about Federal income taxes when they take much more real money out of the government than they could ever hope to pay on their own.

Sloan for example pays some of the highest property taxes in the country, but that's because their property assessed value is pretty low, and just about all the money spent in the town comes from outside sources. They use cheektowaga schools and split police and fire services with Buffalo and Cheektowaga. Since there's only about 3,500 people live ing there, their own taxes no matter how high would never be enough to establish their own school system, public works projects, even something as trivial as snow removal becomes unsustainable. There are far more Sloans in NY than Buffalo/NYC's, if the population of the major metro areas didn't bail out all the small villages and townships it would take them decades to pay for things we consider trivial, like road or bridge repair. The argument from suburban and rural areas about tax rates being too high is akin to an 18 year old child telling their parents they're adults now and should be able to make their own decisions and take care of themselves while living in the parents home, eating their food, driving their car, and complaining when parents ask for a few bucks to teach them responsibility.

And there in lay the problem. These smaller communities used to actually perform. Make products. The service sector economic plan is defunct. Always has been. We need manufacturing for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the skill sets particular to the industries, which, would create a labor supply and demand balanced enough to create...........dare I say it...........a healthy middle class.

 

[CupHolders]

As an Islander fan I will say that Okposo has many talent and abilities but has some pretty substantial flaws. Buffalo is developing a good young team that will allow Okposo to be the 3/4th offensive option. This should minimize some of those flaws. Good player, and an even greater fit.

 

[Not Sure]

And there in lay the problem. These smaller communities used to actually perform. Make products. The service sector economic plan is defunct. Always has been. We need manufacturing for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the skill sets particular to the industries, which, would create a labor supply and demand balanced enough to create...........dare I say it...........a healthy middle class.

Oh I 100% agree, we need to get back to actually making things, problem is that even the manufacturing jobs that are being created aren't paying enough to live on. We give companies tax breaks and lax regulations to increase the likelihood of them creating good paying jobs, but give them no requirement to do so. So instead you have massive global corporations with more economic impact then some small countries paying minimum wage and receiving tax incentives and subsidies while we pay for their employees to recieve Medicaid and foodstamp benefits.

It's only going to get worse as guaranteed pensions turn into 401K and less and less companies offer either. We talk about the impact of entitlement programs, but refuse to look at the reasons why social security has become so expensive and so many people need benefits just to survive. When my generation is ready to retire I worry more about to total economic collapse than social security failure, no one has a backup plan, but that seems to be OK as long as CEOs are making 5,000% the rate of average workers. 40-50 years ago you could depend on most business to do the right thing, but our society has become more greedy and entitled than ever and it's seen top to bottom, with everyone blaming someone else. The cognitive dissonance our politicians have sowed in all of our minds has been cultivated for generations and it's only getting worse.

 

[Yatzhee]

Oh I 100% agree, we need to get back to actually making things, problem is that even the manufacturing jobs that are being created aren't paying enough to live on. We give companies tax breaks and lax regulations to increase the likelihood of them creating good paying jobs, but give them no requirement to do so. So instead you have massive global corporations with more economic impact then some small countries paying minimum wage and receiving tax incentives and subsidies while we pay for their employees to recieve Medicaid and foodstamp benefits.

It's only going to get worse as guaranteed pensions turn into 401K and less and less companies offer either. We talk about the impact of entitlement programs, but refuse to look at the reasons why social security has become so expensive and so many people need benefits just to survive. When my generation is ready to retire I worry more about to total economic collapse than social security failure, no one has a backup plan, but that seems to be OK as long as CEOs are making 5,000% the rate of average workers. 40-50 years ago you could depend on most business to do the right thing, but our society has become more greedy and entitled than ever and it's seen top to bottom, with everyone blaming someone else. The cognitive dissonance our politicians have sowed in all of our minds has been cultivated for generations and it's only getting worse.

I concur.

And on that note, this Okposa fella seems to be a fit.

 

[Not Sure]

As an Islander fan I will say that Okposo has many talent and abilities but has some pretty substantial flaws. Buffalo is developing a good young team that will allow Okposo to be the 3/4th offensive option. This should minimize some of those flaws. Good player, and an even greater fit.

I keep seeing either "he got his points playing with taveres" or "he carried the second line" and am just wondering what to expect honestly. Is he a guy that creates offense or is he just a beneficiary of it? Did the team depend on him for primary scoring and does it seem like he'd still thrive in a secondary role? I mean he will likely start on ROR's wing, but if necessary could he be put on the third line and be expected to be the best player on the ice lifting Moulsons production a bit?

 

[The Wizz]

And there in lay the problem. These smaller communities used to actually perform. Make products. The service sector economic plan is defunct. Always has been. We need manufacturing for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the skill sets particular to the industries, which, would create a labor supply and demand balanced enough to create...........dare I say it...........a healthy middle class.

Well that's not true. A post industrial economy built on private service industry can be just has healthy and productive as an industrial economy.

NY's problem isn't where the tax money is funneling to, it's that NYC has ridiculous tax demands to fund bloated social welfare programs that Upstate never needed in the first place.

NYS would be much better off splitting into three states. NYC, North and Central NY, and WNY.

 

[Chainshot]

Well that's not true. A post industrial economy built on private service industry can be just has healthy and productive as an industrial economy.

NY's problem isn't where the tax money is funneling to, it's that NYC has ridiculous tax demands to fund bloated social welfare programs that Upstate never needed in the first place.

NYS would be much better off splitting into three states. NYC, North and Central NY, and WNY.

Not true, by the various numbers put out by multiple sources.

That said, rather than debating re-apportionment of New York State, can we go back to talking about Okposo and this signing?