Detroit Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider got what he deserved: He was the top vote-getter for the 2022 Calder Trophy.
The annual award recognizes the NHL’s top rookie. It’s the first time it has gone to a Wings player since Roger Crozier in 1965. Members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association voted at the conclusion of the regular season. Anaheim Ducks forward Trevor Zegras and Toronto Maple Leafs forward Michael Bunting were the other finalists.
Seider was in attendance to accept the trophy at the NHL Awards show Tuesday in Tampa, Florida.
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To put into perspective how big a deal this is, Seider accomplished something that eluded three of the biggest stars in franchise history: Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov and Nicklas Lidstrom. All three were runner-ups: Yzerman in 1984 to Tom Barrasso; Fedorov in 1991 to Ed Belfour, and Lidstrom in 1992 to Pavel Bure.
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Seider was drafted at No. 6 in 2019. He spent the 2019-20 season with the Grand Rapids Griffins. He had been earmarked to begin his NHL career in the fall of 2020, but that was waylaid by the pandemic. Instead, the Wings loaned Seider to Rögle in the Swedish Hockey League, and Seider thrived to the extent he was named the SHL Defenseman of the Year. He parlayed that into a stellar start to his Wings career, becoming the first defenseman since Lidstrom in 2010-11 to reach 50 points.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her book, The Big 50: The Detroit Red Wings is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings’ Moritz Seider: 2022 Calder Trophy winner
