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 6 hours ago by LGR4GM

[JohnC]

The GM's comments about the blueline unit being elite is certainly hyperbolic. Who cares what the GM says? How much credibility does he have? Taking a more objective assessment it seems to me that with the addition of Kesserling, the additional year of experience for Power, having Samuelsson play a lower third pairing role, which he is better suited, and pairing Byrum with Dahlin does create a unit that has the makings to be good. Making an argument that this unit won't be elite, which is correct, doesn't mean that it is going to be a mediocre unit. Entering the season, it appears that the players are slotted where they should be. I see this group as a solid to good unit. And that in itself is a positive step. 

[Archie Lee]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

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.

There was pretty much consensus among Sabre fans that getting a partner for Power was a critically important off-season objective. That partner appears to be Kesselring, who is 25 years old, has played 156 NHL games, was 6th in average ice time among d-men in Utah last year, and received almost no PK time (25 seconds per game, 9th among Utah d-men). Yes, there is context that should be considered when looking at his limited average ice-time over the course of the larger season. But, until he shows he can be an effective defender for 19-21 minutes a game in a Lindy Ruff system, it’s not unreasonable to have some skepticism. 

[DarthEbriate]

On 9/17/2025 at 1:34 PM, DarthEbriate said:

But Kesselring spent the bulk of his time with Ian Cole, Sergachev, and Olli Maata -- three guys whose play in their own zone would place them #2 behind Dahlin on the Sabres blue line. Now, Kesselring has to elevate and cover for his partner, rather than the be the guy who is free to just play. (Unless he's paired with Dahlin.) 

It's an opportunity for Kesselring, for certain. But it's also very much a big pipe of hopium.

Partially quoting a post I made upthread, but I'll add some more numbers to it this time.

2024-25 Kesselring 5-on-5
This was a disciplined (well-coached) Utah squad and Kesseling was typically paired with an extremely experienced and competent defender

Cole               701 minutes    xGF% 52.8    GF% 56.3
Sergachev    206 min           xGF% 52.8    GF% 56.3
Valimaki        121 min             xGF% 85.7    GF% 47.9
Maatta          114 min             xGF% 50        GF% 51.1
Another 7 players with less than 200 minutes combined, too small of samples sizes to include

Who are they? (I'm using their current games played, including last season's GP totals, for simplicity):

Maatta 761 GP, 82 playoff GP. 6'2", smooth, savvy 2x Cup winner. Age 31. 2nd pairing guy
Cole 908 GP, 129 playoff GP  6'1" 235# Will get beat by speed, 2x Cup winner. Age 36, career 3rd pair PK
Valimaki 271 GP, 2 playoff GP 6'2" 201,  201#  fewer NHL games played, but basically a bigger Jokiharju, solid defender
Sergachev 552 GP, 100 playoff GP  6'3, 212#, legitimate #1D, 2x Cup winner, not Dahlin-level but makes his partner better. Age 27

All 1st round picks, and Valimaki is far and away the least-experienced or "worst" defender and he would've easily been a top-4 on the Sabres last year.

 

Kesselring has a bunch of potential. There's reason to be hopeful he can make the Kessel Run up the lineup like he did last season and meet his full potential. But... there's also a chance he's Clifton, who couldn't make that jump up to a 2nd pair guy, particularly because Power and the forwards did the team no services defensively. Adams should've had a Maatta or a Cole for Power and company the last 3 seasons... instead of the husk of Erik Johnson (good player, way past even Cole-level of workload) and a reach in Clifton to try and be more than he is.

Aside: If Kesselring ends up playing next to Dahlin for an extended amount of time, I think he'll end up looking fantastic. But... if injuries lead to him being asked to play top-4 minutes with Bryson or Jones, I don't know that he's going to make either of them look like top-6 defenders.

It's a big pipe of hopium being smoked. It could work really well. It might not. He's not a can't miss top-10 defender prospect who just needs time. He's being asked to be the veteran.

[JohnC]

47 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

Partially quoting a post I made upthread, but I'll add some more numbers to it this time.

2024-25 Kesselring 5-on-5
This was a disciplined (well-coached) Utah squad and Kesseling was typically paired with an extremely experienced and competent defender

Cole               701 minutes    xGF% 52.8    GF% 56.3
Sergachev    206 min           xGF% 52.8    GF% 56.3
Valimaki        121 min             xGF% 85.7    GF% 47.9
Maatta          114 min             xGF% 50        GF% 51.1
Another 7 players with less than 200 minutes combined, too small of samples sizes to include

Who are they? (I'm using their current games played, including last season's GP totals, for simplicity):

Maatta 761 GP, 82 playoff GP. 6'2", smooth, savvy 2x Cup winner. Age 31. 2nd pairing guy
Cole 908 GP, 129 playoff GP  6'1" 235# Will get beat by speed, 2x Cup winner. Age 36, career 3rd pair PK
Valimaki 271 GP, 2 playoff GP 6'2" 201,  201#  fewer NHL games played, but basically a bigger Jokiharju, solid defender
Sergachev 552 GP, 100 playoff GP  6'3, 212#, legitimate #1D, 2x Cup winner, not Dahlin-level but makes his partner better. Age 27

All 1st round picks, and Valimaki is far and away the least-experienced or "worst" defender and he would've easily been a top-4 on the Sabres last year.

 

Kesselring has a bunch of potential. There's reason to be hopeful he can make the Kessel Run up the lineup like he did last season and meet his full potential. But... there's also a chance he's Clifton, who couldn't make that jump up to a 2nd pair guy, particularly because Power and the forwards did the team no services defensively. Adams should've had a Maatta or a Cole for Power and company the last 3 seasons... instead of the husk of Erik Johnson (good player, way past even Cole-level of workload) and a reach in Clifton to try and be more than he is.

Aside: If Kesselring ends up playing next to Dahlin for an extended amount of time, I think he'll end up looking fantastic. But... if injuries lead to him being asked to play top-4 minutes with Bryson or Jones, I don't know that he's going to make either of them look like top-6 defenders.

It's a big pipe of hopium being smoked. It could work really well. It might not. He's not a can't miss top-10 defender prospect who just needs time. He's being asked to be the veteran.

With young players, especially defenders, you never really know for sure where they end up as players. Kesserling is not being asked to be a can't miss top-10 defender. What he's being asked to do is (probably so) be a good partner for Power as a stabilizing second pairing partner. It shouldn't be forgotten that when he was moved up to one of the top two pairing spots due to injuries in Utah, he acquitted himself very well. So there is plenty of tape to assess his play in that higher role. And there is another possible outcome regarding Kesserling. Considering his age and experience just maybe he hasn't reached his potential and there is more growth to draw from.  

As others have noted, one of the priorities this offseason was to find a partner for Power. We had to give up value to get a player to fill a critical need. So, I'm more than pleased with this acquisition and am confident enough that he can successfully fill the role that was intended for him. 

[Taro T]

37 minutes ago, JohnC said:

With young players, especially defenders, you never really know for sure where they end up as players. Kesserling is not being asked to be a can't miss top-10 defender. What he's being asked to do is (probably so) be a good partner for Power as a stabilizing second pairing partner. It shouldn't be forgotten that when he was moved up to one of the top two pairing spots due to injuries in Utah, he acquitted himself very well. So there is plenty of tape to assess his play in that higher role. And there is another possible outcome regarding Kesserling. Considering his age and experience just maybe he hasn't reached his potential and there is more growth to draw from.  

As others have noted, one of the priorities this offseason was to find a partner for Power. We had to give up value to get a player to fill a critical need. So, I'm more than pleased with this acquisition and am confident enough that he can successfully fill the role that was intended for him. 

Personally expect Kesselring to acquit himself well once he finally gets acclimated to what Wilford is expecting from him.  

But, to play devil's advocate, Clifton by all accounts played well on the B's top pairing while McAvoy was out injured.  And his stay here was, um, not good.

He has the potenial to be just what this D needs.  Let's hope that potenial gets reached.

Edited 1 hour ago by Taro T

[JohnC]

26 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Personally expect Kesselring to acquit himself well once he finally gets acclimated to what Wilford is expecting from him.  

But, to play devil's advocate, Clifton by all accounts played well on the B's top pairing while McAvoy was out injured.  And his stay here was, um, not good.

He has toe potenial to be just what this D needs.  Let's hope that potenial gets reached.

As you seem to allude to that coaching is critical in putting players in a position to succeed. As you well know, on that score the Sabres are working with a deficit compared to well run teams. Without even discussing roster talent, the Sabres are handicapped from a coaching standpoint. The Pegula franchise is full of internal obstacles that make competing with normally run franchises difficult.