As part of The Leafs Nation’s Atlantic Division preview series, the TLN staff are examining the most compelling storylines and angles from each team. Here is our deep dive on the Detroit Red Wings and below is the second part of the Red Wings preview:
Moritz Seider is expected to take a major leap for the Detroit Red Wings, which in some ways may be an unfair ask, given the tremendous volume he already takes on. Seider is the only NHL player to record 200 hits and blocked shots during the 2023-24 campaign and he’s always involved in the action. And while the Red Wings are looking to snap a near-decade long playoff drought, they’ve already found their next foundational defenceman, who can eventually steer the Original Six franchise back to its Hockeytown glory days.
Corey Sznajder of All Three Zones wrote an authoritative profile of Seider in February, detailing his workload, the quality of competition he faces with an abnormal amount of defensive zone starts, and how he operates in transition defense among other topics. It’s certainly worth a read and it details how Seider has become forced to actually defend more than other similar players of his calibre and pedigree. Seider’s mix of physicality and positioning should allow him to become a greater star. For now, he’s the main accelerant towards a playoff bid this season, while Steve Yzerman is still carving out a pathway for future Cup contention.
Seider led all Red Wings in ice time, playing 22:22 per game and he was primarily paired with Jake Walman — who was traded, along with a 2024 second-round pick to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for future considerations, ostensibly to clear the runway for massive extensions earmarked for Seider and fellow RFA Lucas Raymond. Seider-Walman played 810:06 at 5-on-5 last season, with a -6 goal differential and a 43 percent share of the expected goals, with a disproportionate neutral zone and defensive zone start rate as the 22nd-most unit in the league.
Moritz Seider pushes Detroit’s lead to 3 with a booming one-timer tally on the power play!#LGRW pic.twitter.com/0ketgk4TT3
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) December 6, 2023
The 23-year-old will likely be primarily paired with Ben Chiarot, while playing in all situations — it’s unclear if Seider will play on the team’s first power play unit, but he virtually plays everywhere and it wouldn’t be a major surprise if he leads the NHL in icetime this season. He also has a laser of a slapshot, and could legitimately function in a four-forward, one-defender set up. Seider and Chiarot played 295:52 at 5-on-5 together last season, with a -4 goal differential and a 43 percent share of the expected goals. These aren’t great results in a vacuum and the eye test more than exonerates Seider from poor expected results, he’s basically being asked to play Hercules on a team that plays an uptempo counterattacking style. More simply, the Red Wings are going to try outgun their opponents at all costs and Seider is being tasked with putting out fires, before prioritizing his offence.
Seider will be three seasons removed from his Calder Trophy-winning season, and he should be expected to take a major leap this season. It’s a commonality he shares with other Atlantic rivals in Ottawa’s Jake Sanderson and Buffalo’s Owen Power, but the Detroit has been hovering on the verge of a playoff spot and are further ahead in its rebuild, so Seider carries a larger burden of expectation. He’s every bit worth a massive extension that the Red Wings should be excited to pay him, he plays with the toughness and physicality that old-school hockey fans crave, while showing the ability to square off against top-tier competition every night. It’s unclear if the Red Wings will be stuck hovering around as a dead-average team or if greater ambitions will be realized in the near future, but what’s clear is that Seider is the team’s next foundational defenceman, an asset that every team covets.
All stats from NHL.com, Natural Stat Trick, MoneyPuck, and a massive H/T to All Three Zones.
