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Islanders' Okposo: 'I want to take that next step' after career season

Anne-Marie Sorvin / USA Today

Kyle Okposo reached new heights with the New York Islanders in 2013-14, recording career-highs in goals (27) and points (69) in 71 games played during his seventh professional season.

Okposo, who is finally living up to his potential at age 26 after being drafted seventh overall in 2006, addressed the media after an informal team skate on Wednesday, making it clear he wants to build on last season's progress rather than rest on his laurels following a breakout campaign.

I want to take that next step. I don’t want to look at last year and say I had a good year, I want to do that again. I want to be better than I was last year. That’s something as an athlete you always want to strive for - to get better. There wasn’t a day that went by this summer that I wasn’t thinking about that - wanting to be better. Everybody has [expectations] and they are what they are. They don’t mean anything. All that matters is what’s inside you and what’s inside this room here. We have expectations of ourselves and everybody personally has their own goals that they want to meet and as a team we do. You can’t look at what anybody else is saying, you just have to focus on yourselves.

If Okposo can maintain the point-per-game pace he established last season, it will be difficult to consider the upcoming campaign anything but a success. He recorded the majority of his points a year ago playing alongside John Tavares, who missed the final two months of last season with a knee injury. Tavares says his knee feels great, which bodes well for Okposo's lofty goals.

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