Adams: we have an elite D corps

[Thorny]

43 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

I love that we up in here litigating the legacy of Brian Campbell.

Those that can’t do, reach 

[Carmel Corn]

Soupy Campbell’s Buffalo legacy will forever be his hit on RJ Umberger and his spin-o-rama move IMHO.

[Taro T]

For Power, the thing that would most improve his game IMHO is getting beyond the need to hold the puck for 3 seconds waiting to find a particularly open teammate and instead just trust in his passing prowess and fit the puck into a window.  It'll lead to more time in the offensive end and that combined with having a partner who seems to be pretty good in his own end should help alleviate a bit of his defensive zone issues.  if he could also body against opposing forwards, not even hit them, just take away space; we'd likely like him a whole lot more than we have.  

Continue to build on his willingness to at least occassionally shoot the puck from outside the house which 1st arrived this last season along with all that and he might actually be a legt 3 and a poor man's 2 and all at the advanced age of 22 years old.

HATE having Wilford back, because he seems to love having his guys take up space trying to disrupt passes without taking away time nor space.  If you're tight on a guy, they aren't going to pass to him.  Luring the pass while expecting to intercept it works for Dahlin, usually.  Not so much for the rest of them.  At some point you have to hope since Marty will never get canned he'll figure out that what Dahlin can do isn't necessarily what mortals can pull off.

[Kristian]

On 9/17/2025 at 9:16 PM, Huckleberry said:

I'm expecting a big jump from Power this year in toughness and play.

So do I. Over the boards and glass, and into the stands….

[GASabresIUFAN]

Adams is seriously delusional about his D group.   

He has 1 proven elite all around D in Dahlin

He has two O skilled young D who are allergic to playing defense in Power and Byram.

He has a large injury prone defender named Samuelsson who was hoped to become a defensive stalwart but also can’t play consistently in zone defense.  He is like Risto but without the scoring.  

He has a young possibly solid all around D who may or may not be able to jump from being a 3rd pair guy to a 2nd pair guy in Kesselring.  Remember, despite filling in at times on the 2nd pair for Utah, he only average 17:30 a night.  

And then there is Timmins.  He is not some defensive stalwart.  In fact he has basically been an injury replacement 7th D most of his career.  Last season was his first “full time” NHL season; he played 68 games. His previous career high was 31.  His Fenwick and Corsi were negative last year and when Tor needed D help for the playoffs Timmins was traded to Pittsburgh.  

The only elite aspect of this D is Dahlin and his ability to elevate his playing partner.  That gives us one good pair.  

After that we are asking Power and Samuelson to finally play defense or a least not be a liability defensively like they have been for the last 2 seasons.  We are asking Kesselring to jump to 22-23 minutes a night and cover up Power inept defense.  We also asking Timmins to build on his full time season, help hold down the 3rd pair and to try to be at least average defensively.  

This is too tall an order for this group.  I have hope for Kesselring, but worry Power’s inept play will hurt Kesselring’s play at both ends.  I have zero faith in Ssmuelsson staying healthy enough to play a full season and the depth behind him of Timmins, Bryson and Jones doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.  I’d rather see one of big Russians come up instead of crappy depth. 

 

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

He has a young possibly solid all around D who may or may not be able to jump from being a 3rd pair guy to a 2nd pair guy in Kesselring.  Remember, despite filling in at times on the 2nd pair for Utah, he only average 17:30 a night.  

You've done this before and it is deliberately deceiving. Kesselring was on the 1st pair for Utah for half the season. The reason his toi isn't higher is because he was sparingly used on their pp. Utah has 2 rhd they are paying a bunch of money too, so when they came back, Kesselring slid. It would be like arguing that Power isn't X because toi but ignoring we have Dahlin. 

John Marino 21:10

Sean Durzi 20:39

Kesselring 17:30

My point is you keep making this toi argument and it makes no sense especially when he's gonna see it go up what? 2-3 min here? He's not gonna be on the pp. He'll be on the pk. When they need to score late, they'll run Dahlin with Byram or Power. Power toi last year was 21:09. That's 3 or 4 more shifts. 

Kesserling is also older than Samuelsson, Byram, Power. 

Edited 1 hour ago by LGR4GM