The 27-year-old is in his fourth professional season and has split time between Buffalo and Rochester every year. The defense will have a different look this season with the additions of Colin Miller and Henri Jokiharju. Nelson thinks they are much improved, “You talk about depth and that’s the main word you could say especially since we’ve brought in so many guys to improve.”
I would consider Brandon Montour a pretty new addition since he was acquired on Feb. 24. John Gilmour came from the Rangers as a depth free agent signee during the summer.
Nelson said now that everybody is competing for jobs, they know what to do, “There for sure is going to be more support, there’s no grey areas anymore. Everyone’s on the same page and obviously in these games we’re getting better and better and you can see a lot of good things already.”
In practice on Tuesday, Nelson was on the left side playing with Will Borgen. There have been a few times as a Sabre that Nelson has played left defense. He said it doesn’t bother him at all to make the change, “Whatever I’ve got to do, you know what I mean? Anything they tell me to do, I’ll do. There’s no complaining there.
“I’m getting more and more comfortable at it. I practice it here and there and I’m good.”
Now that Nelson has played some left D, he knows what to expect, “I take it as less of a big deal. I focus on things I can control and I’ve just got to embrace it. I mean, you’ve got to have confidence playing the opposite side and it’s easier that way.”
Nelson knows that on defense it’s going to boil down to a numbers game. He said, “You can’t worry about the game or you’re two ahead or you’re halfway through the season or next year or anything like that. You’ve just got to take it day-by-day and even during the game, shift-by-shift, so it’s all about the little things and adding them up to more of a big piece.”
Now that he's 27, Nelson feels he can be more of a leader. He said there are things he can help the young kids with, “I’m a more all-around guy. I don’t exactly bring a ton of offense. I’m more and more defensive and I think I’ve got some key components that I can help some of the younger guys or anybody. Everyone is giving each other pointers. I mean, we’re all really tight and we’re all open to get to the same overall picture.”
Rasmus Ristolainen and Scott Wilson returned to practice on Tuesday. The lines were:
Olofsson - Eichel - Reinhart
Skinner - Johansson - Okposo
Girgensons - Sobotka - Thompson
Vesey - Mittelstadt - Rodrigues
Elie - Asplund - Lazar
Wilson - Cozens
Dahlin - Ristolainen
McCabe - Miller
Nelson - Borgen
Scandella - Jokiharju
Gilmour