How the hell did Craig Adams play 951 games in the NHL?

[Coastal Kev]

Coaches love their safe (bad, non-creative un-skilled) players.

This times 1000. Way too many garbage players in the league who clutch and grab to make a career. If the league was policed properly, guys like Adams wouldn't have been able to have a career in a beer league.

 

[DearDiary]

He gave 100% at all times, coaches could trust him knowing he will bring the same thing every shift. Players also respected him for his leadership, he forced players to work just as hard as him

 

[Clatartar]

He gave 100% at all times, coaches could trust him knowing he will bring the same thing every shift. Players also respected him for his leadership, he forced players to work just as hard as him

Hey Craigger!

 

[Coastal Kev]

He gave 100% at all times, coaches could trust him knowing he will bring the same thing every shift. Players also respected him for his leadership, he forced players to work just as hard as him

LOL... he was trash and every time he stepped on the ice, the league was worse for him having done so.

 

[Butch 19]

You don't play 951 games, with another 106 playoff games, by accident. You can fall through a crack for a year or two, but not for the equivalent of almost 12 seasons. The guy did something right. He was the 223rd pick. That guy usually doesn't play almost 1000 regular season games just because. He brought something to the teams he played on.

exactly ^^^^

Why is the OP so surprised that a player had a good, long career, without him knowing about it?

This thread could occur every day.

 

[VoynovsParoleOfficer]

been laughing at this for 3 mins.... THIS IS GOLD WHY DOES THIS EXIST?!

 

[CanadianPensFan1]

This is right up there with the caramilk secret.....

 

[DaveG]

Early in his career with Carolina he was a very dependable PKer and energy line winger. Had great chemistry with Kevyn Adams after he was acquired in 2002 up through the time Adams was traded in 07, especially with that 4th line in 06 of Adams-Adams-LaRose, so that accounts for almost 350 games worth of time alone right there.

 

[SotasicA]

He was an energy guy. Can't look at stats to determine a player's worth. Bylsma figured 4th line wing isn't a great place to use a skilled forward that lives off the puck. A guy like that would just get cold, lose puck battles, get frustrated and cost the team in more minuses. Adams was the definition of "a plug".

 

[KIRK]

Almost unbelievably bad goal-scoring, garbage FO%, a minus player every year... the uselessness doesn't end. I know Disco Dan Bylsma was obsessed with him, but he clearly wasn't the only one. Slush money from Brunei? Harvard old boys network? How??

This is a question that haunted Penguins fans for years.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

He was a damn good penalty killer.

Also blackmail. Mostly blackmail. He wasn't good enough on the PK to make up for how utterly horrible he was at everything else his final ~350 games.

 

[DearDiary]

He was a damn good penalty killer.

Also blackmail. Mostly blackmail.

It's always blackmail and conspiracies on the Pens board. Last I checked, Adams also played for Johnston and Kunitz (also apparently blackmailing) played through Johnston/Sullivan while getting top roles.

When will you finally accept that Adams had a role on the team and did what was expected of him?

 

[ResignCraigAdams]

Penguin fans have debated this for years.

Personally, I think the Craig Adams nadir was reached when the Pens put out that awful Iron Man picture.

I'd link to the image but I can't bring myself to look at it again.

This is my moment to shine guys.

 

[Epsilon]

Compromising photographs of Bylsma is the most likely reason.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

It's always blackmail and conspiracies on the Pens board. Last I checked, Adams also played for Johnston and Kunitz (also apparently blackmailing) played through Johnston/Sullivan while getting top roles.

When will you finally accept that Adams had a role on the team and did what was expected of him?

You believe what you want to believe, I'm taking that Cup win last year as vindication for the years of asking for competent coaching and a NHL caliber fourth line.

 

[Shockmaster]

To answer the OP:

 

[hooverdam]

He gave 100% at all times, coaches could trust him knowing he will bring the same thing every shift. Players also respected him for his leadership, he forced players to work just as hard as him

Right, like when he got into a fistfight with Malkin at practice! Love that leadership.

My favorite piece of Craig Adams trivia is the fact that he played exactly 0 minutes of ice time in his last game as a Penguin. He dressed and sat on the bench the entire game. Not as a punishment, just because.

 

[BHD]

I had finally forgotten about the years of Craig Adams and Tanner Glass (and Joe Vitale, and Zach Sill), and then this question gets asked...

 

[Greeneye]

It was so painful to watch him play for the Pens. He had to have dirt on Abysmal/Shero.

 

[Critical Mass]

Salary Cap. Someone has to fill out the roster.

Craig Adams never earned more than $700,000 per season.

 

[Penske]

Byslma is the correct answer.

 

[Matsun]

been laughing at this for 3 mins.... THIS IS GOLD WHY DOES THIS EXIST?!

It gets worse, that picture was made by the Penguins official twitter account when Adams broke the franchise record for consecutive games played.

The moment I saw I saw that tweet was just as painful as getting embarrassed by Philly in the playoffs.

 

[UnderratedBrooks44]

Shero kept signing him. Thing is though as much as Pens fans rightfully blasted him in the later stages, we kind of forget his usefulness before that. Then again, would a hungry checking line prospect done any worse? Hard to say. If nothing else he was a role player on a Cup team, kept going off of that fact, and won another Cup so he had somewhat unique job security and longevity. I think these days GMs and coaches have moved on from some of the philosophies that kept him around so long.

 

[rojac]

It gets worse, that picture was made by the Penguins official twitter account when Adams broke the franchise record for consecutive games played.

The moment I saw I saw that tweet was just as painful as getting embarrassed by Philly in the playoffs.

It's kind of a cute idea. The franchise's "iron man" as Iron Man. Not brilliant, but I don't see it as embarrassing.

 

[Epsilon]

Right, like when he got into a fistfight with Malkin at practice! Love that leadership.

My favorite piece of Craig Adams trivia is the fact that he played exactly 0 minutes of ice time in his last game as a Penguin. He dressed and sat on the bench the entire game. Not as a punishment, just because.

But Adams was more important to the team than Malkin.

(just for anyone not getting the reference, at least one Pens/Adams fan on here actually made that claim)