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Buffalo Sabres defenseman Owen Power succeeds or fails based mostly on his means to make split-second selections. Like selecting a bag of popcorn over a rushing house run ball at a current Toronto Blue Jays house recreation.
He selected poorly.
“It was sort of embarrassing I did not get it,” Energy stated.
Energy and his girlfriend Victoria had been seated behind left area when Jays catcher Danny Jansen smacked a pitch over the wall and into the stands.
“I went and received some popcorn for us,” Energy stated. “On the best way down, I used to be strolling into my seats and I heard the bat. I used to be considering there was no probability that it involves me. However then unexpectedly everybody in my part was standing with their arms up. I appeared up and noticed a ball coming proper at me. I had the popcorn in a single hand and … properly, I moreso tried to avoid wasting myself than catch it as a result of it was coming in fairly quick.”
One other fan lunged for the ball earlier than the 6-foot-6 NHL rookie was ready to seize it. Followers watching the sport observed that Power was in the vicinity of the ball however did not give you it; Canadian sports activities networks would discover the identical.
“I used to be fortunate it wasn’t proven an excessive amount of,” Energy stated.
Alas, the cameras caught that gaffe however not the eventual triumph. In early September, the Energy couple had been again within the stands in Toronto. A ball sailed into the gang, as soon as once more headed to their part. This time, they left with a memento — Victoria caught it.
“She’s up 1-0 on me,” he stated, laughing. “However she was mad about it: ‘In fact, this one would not get on TV.'”
There will probably be loads of cameras targeted on Owen Energy this season because the No. 1 total decide within the 2021 draft embarks on his first full marketing campaign with the Sabres. His success will probably be chronicled for what many anticipate will probably be a Calder Trophy candidacy, however he’s nonetheless a rookie defenseman — and teammate Kyle Okposo stated due to that, Energy’s failures may be intensified.
“Your errors are magnified. As a result of should you make errors as a defenseman, you are giving up an opportunity,” stated Okposo, who’s coming into his sixteenth NHL season. “Lots of instances on this league, they are going to make you pay for it. As a ahead, should you make a mistake, lots of instances they’re up the ice the place you’ve got different individuals again and people errors can get lined up. Privately, you hear about these on video if you’re a youthful ahead. It isn’t at all times as public as a defenseman. It’s important to discover ways to be positionally sound as a result of everyone’s so sensible within the NHL.”
It is one thing Energy has already observed, regardless of having performed solely eight video games for the Sabres final season after leaving the College of Michigan.
“You are going from enjoying towards guys that are not as expert or as sturdy or as sensible as they’re [in the NHL]. You have to play towards the perfect gamers on the planet,” he stated.
Starting this season, he’ll.
POWER WAS BORN in 2002 in Mississauga, Ontario. To carbon date this: The Sabres’ main defenseman in common ice time that season was Alexei Zhitnik, they usually had been carrying the pink and black “goat’s head” jersey that is returning this season as an alternate sweater.
It is a look that predates Energy’s NHL fandom.
“However it seems cool,” he stated.
He grew up competing in a wide range of sports activities, together with field lacrosse, the place he gained three nationwide titles. However hockey gained out for Energy. He performed Triple-A hockey in Canada earlier than making the leap to the USHL’s Chicago Metal in 2018, adopted by two seasons with the College of Michigan. These Wolverines groups had been notable for his or her depth of NHL prospect expertise, together with Brendan Brisson (Vegas Golden Knights), Kent Johnson (Columbus Blue Jackets) and Matty Beniers, who was chosen second total in 2021 by the Seattle Kraken.
Energy may have made the leap to the NHL after his first season at Michigan. The draw of enjoying with that group and chasing a nationwide title proved too sturdy for him. Energy stated he has no regrets for staying at Michigan, regardless that the Wolverines misplaced within the semifinals of the Frozen 4.
“It helped me loads to develop. Not solely as a participant, however as an individual. It was the best resolution and going to be actually helpful,” he stated.
Additionally helpful: Getting an opportunity to characterize Canada on the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, after the NHL refused to permit its gamers to populate these rosters because of the COVID-19 pandemic’s affect on its regular-season schedule. A few of his Michigan teammates joined him there.
“That was an unreal expertise,” stated Beniers, who performed for Group USA in Beijing. “Having the ability to do that could be a once-in-a-lifetime alternative. Now, making that subsequent step all collectively, is fairly particular.”
Energy stated the Olympics helped in making that subsequent step a neater one.
“Taking part in towards professionals and being in that environment the place there’s a lot on the road,” he stated. “It helped us mature a bit of. For me, it is helped me loads.”
Energy jumped to the NHL after that, scoring two objectives with an help in eight video games as a Sabre. That initiatives to over 20 objectives in a full season, a complete that solely three rookie defensemen — Brian Leetch (25), Barry Beck (22) and Dion Phaneuf (20) — have hit in NHL historical past.
“I do not find out about that,” Energy stated. “Hopefully I will have the ability to get that many, however who is aware of?”
He was joyful together with his NHL debut, which gave Buffalo followers a glimpse on the future and gave a style {of professional} life to Energy.
“I believe everybody did a extremely good job of creating me really feel snug. Everybody there was actually welcoming,” Energy stated. “However the greatest man in that for me was Okposo. He actually helped me. He was at all times there once I had questions concerning the league. He is somebody everybody sort of leans on.”
KYLE OKPOSO HAS seen loads in his six seasons in Buffalo. 4 coaches. Three normal managers. The Jack Eichel period coming and going. Zero playoff video games.
How is he feeling concerning the Sabres group that Owen Energy has joined?
“Feeling good about it. And it is taken a very long time to get right here,” Okposo stated.
Okposo had simply completed a skate in Buffalo and was talking from its locker room. As he appeared across the stalls, he noticed just one title that had been with the group so long as he is been there: ahead Zemgus Girgensons.
“I keep in mind my first yr right here and the way a lot hope and optimism I had going into the season. And it’s extremely satisfying for me to see the potential of the place we’re going now,” he stated. “That is to not say that we’re there but, as a result of it is a lengthy strategy to go. However the constructing blocks are there.”
Energy is a type of constructing blocks. Like with different younger gamers, Okposo felt a accountability to share what he is discovered.
“He’s a 19-year-old younger man and first total decide. There’s completely different pressures that associate with that, particularly as a defenseman within the NHL,” Okposo stated. “I simply needed to make it possible for he feels as snug as attainable going into the season. I believe that if you’re in a superb place mentally off the ice, then you definately’re going to have the ability to carry out your greatest on the ice.”
Off the ice, Energy thinks loads about being on the ice. He is turn into notorious amongst his teammates for watching copious quantities of video on different defensemen. “Whenever you watch among the high guys, you see issues they do after which put it in [your game]. It is a copycat league. I believe it is good to be taught and watch,” he stated.
His focus currently has been on three NHL defensemen specifically, all of them Norris Trophy winners: Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators and Adam Fox of the New York Rangers. However there’s one other defenseman to whom Okposo likens him, and it is not one often related to a 6-foot-6 body.
“He is received lots of a younger Erik Karlsson in him,” Okposo stated. “Not his complete recreation, however simply how clean he’s. When Erik would do issues, it was so fluid. I believe Owen has an analogous side in how he performs.”
Energy’s skating has been praised all through his journey to the NHL, many instances in distinction to what’s anticipated from a defenseman his dimension. However there’s one other side of Energy’s recreation that Okposo loves: his decision-making.
“He isn’t afraid to make the easy go,” he stated. “Whenever you’re a younger, expert defenseman and a No. 1 total decide, you’ve got all these expectations on you and there is instances the place you attempt to make a tough play.”
Okposo’s school roommate was one other first total decide defenseman: Erik Johnson, who simply gained the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche. Okposo remembered giving Johnson a tough time when he’d forego the easy play in favor of “at all times attempting to throw some sauce the place it did not have to be” on his passes.
“That is one thing that Owen, he would not do,” the veteran stated. “If the arduous play is there and that is his solely play, then he’s going to make it. But when he is received a secure possibility, he will transfer it there. I believe that is one thing that’s distinctive in his recreation. It sort of jogs my memory of anyone like Miro Heiskanen the place he’ll make the easy play after which he’ll simply wow you in several areas.”
HEISKANEN IS PART of a wave of younger NHL defenseman with whom Energy is browsing. Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar, who gained NHL Rookie of the Yr in 2019-20, and Moritz Seider of the Detroit Red Wings, who gained it this previous season, are additionally a part of that wave.
Defensemen have not gained the Calder Trophy in consecutive seasons since 1962-64. They’ve by no means gained it in three of 4 seasons. Might Owen Energy make historical past?
He chuckled. “I actually do not assume an excessive amount of about it. I simply attempt to present up on the rink day-after-day and attempt to get higher. See what occurs from there.”
The expectations are there for Energy, each as a rookie and as a foundational participant for the Sabres. It isn’t arduous to see the purpose of demarcation for the franchise: Owen Energy arrives simply as Jack Eichel leaves, having been traded to the Golden Knights final season. One period yielding to the subsequent in Buffalo.
However Okposo would not see the post-Eichel Sabres as belonging to 1 participant, even when he was a primary total decide. He rattles off names like Rasmus Dahlin, Alex Tuch, Tage Thompson, Peyton Krebs and Dylan Cozens, who will be part of Energy on this roster.
“I do not know who’s going to mark the brand new period,” Okposo stated. “That is the factor about our group. That is the place the inner competitors goes to return in, and we’re all going to push one another in a optimistic method.”
Energy stated he is prepared to affix that push. “It is an unbelievable group of fellows, and an actual younger group,” he stated. “I am excited to go in. Simply joyful to be part of it.”
It is a fast-arriving alternative for Energy that he would not intend to overlook.
Even when he is carrying a bag of popcorn.
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