Updated 6x at 3:45 AM: Of Moritz Seider-related note early in the morning in Detroit and late on Friday night in Vancouver:
- The Red Wings posted a 9-minute clip of Seider’s scrum with the Red Wings’ media corps:
2. NHL.com’s Mike G. Morreale spoke with several members of the Red Wings’ organization regarding the team’s decision to pick Seider 6th overall:
“He looks like a guy who can be a top-four [defenseman] and help you win hockey games,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “Does he become a top-pair D? We’ll see. That all comes in time. To me, you need big, efficient smart defensemen and he’s that.”
Blashill coached the United States at the 2019 IIHF World Championship, where Seider played for Germany and scored two goals in five games. The tournament provided Blashill to watch Seider up close.
“What I liked is when he was under pressure he was able to make passes through people,” Blashill said. “That is what the best defensemen do. They almost don’t see the first forechecker; all they see is the options, and I thought he did a good job of that.”
The Red Wings also liked that the 18-year-old played in the top professional league in Germany, where he faced older, more seasoned competition. He had six points (two goals, four assists) in 29 games for Manheim.
“I think it was the perfect opportunity for myself in getting better as a player, but also, I think it’s very important to get better as a person,” Seider said of his first season with Manheim. “Hanging around all these experienced guys, that was a huge step for myself as a person.”
3. Also from NHL.com, Yzerman spoke with the NBCSN’s Kathryn Tappen regarding the Wings’ pick:
4. The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a clip of Yzerman speaking with the media from the draft floor:
5. And the Red Wings posted coach Blashill’s comments:
6. The Sporting News’s Sammi Sibler deems the Red Wings a first-round “loser” for drafting Seider so high…
Seider wasn’t the best available talent. The Red Wings passed on forwards like Caufield, Trevor Zegras and Matt Boldy, and defensemen such as Victor Soderstrom and Cam York. Detroit likely needs a top-four right-handed defenseman to come in right away, especially considering it wants to return to the playoffs after missing out the last three seasons. Seider can provide organizational depth, but the Wings may be expecting too much from a player who was drafted much higher than expected.
And ESPN’s Chris Peters (Insider) was plain old stunned by the selection:
What was the biggest shock of the first round?
Well, I’m still struggling to believe Seider went sixth overall. Yes, Seider is an exceptional player with a lot of upside. And he’s a high-character kid. But there’s still a lot to be learned about his game, as he played lower in the lineup with Mannheim this season in Germany. While he seems to fit within the Red Wings’ model, there were other players I liked a lot more, especially forwards. It’s hard to know where Seider would have gone otherwise, but opinions on him really went up after the world championship and combine. Detroit obviously felt strongly enough to dive right in and throw a wrench into the whole thing.
7. At the other end of the analytical spectrum, NHL.de’s Christian Goebel is proclaiming Seider, Dominik Bokk (Bokk went 25th to St. Louis in 2018) and Leon Draisaitl’s emergence the start of a “golden era” for German hockey.
Alexander Gammel’s Seider draft story is interesting to read, if only for the translation effect:
“He’s a very good draft pick,” Yzerman said, satisfied with the first-round pick. “The first five picks went as well as we expected, and the next group of players, including Moritz, are great talents, and what convinced us in the end was that he is a great defender, runner-strong and excellent There were many players to choose from, it was not a crystal clear decision, but we’re glad to have it. ”
Update: FYI:
For @DetroitRedWings #RedWings fans, get to know Moritz Seider via his appearance during the 2019 Draft Spotlight segment this year.
— Guy Flaming (@TPS_Guy) June 22, 2019
LISTEN: https://t.co/JhHmuCLHH6
DOWNLOAD: https://t.co/QcUEoYMMDE pic.twitter.com/2rDhk0nH5t
Update #2: Here’s Yzerman speaking with the media via DetroitRedWings.com:
Update #3: Here’s The Athletic’s Corey Pronman on Seider:
Team Fit: In Seider, the Wings get a player who a lot of teams were interested in and speculated may go in this range but weren’t 100 percent sure if would happen. NHL sources describe him as a bit of a mystery because of how little he played for his club team, but he impressed NHL folks a lot in international play, such as at the U20 B pool and the World Championship. It’s an aggresive play for me, especially since there are some questions on the offensive upside, but I know a lot of teams who were big believers in Seider. This will be one of the most fascinating picks of the past decade and one of the gutsiest. GM Steve Yzerman is known for making gutsy picks, selecting the injured Brett Connolly at sixth-overall, the tempermental Tony DeAngelo in the top 20 and goalie in Russia in Andrei Vasilevskiy in the first round.
Update #4: CBS Sports’ Pete Blackburn weighs in:
The Red Wings delivered the biggest surprise of the first round when they selected Moritz Seider at No. 6. The German defenseman is seen as a good defensive prospect who has a reputation for being reliable and skilled in his own end, and he brings a lot of size at 6-4. But he’s not believed to have a ton of offensive upside outside of being a very good passer and, as such, he was ranked outside of the top 10 by most scouts and prospect outlets.
The Wings obviously like Seider a lot and there’s something to be said about going after the guy you want despite what the rankings say. But the Wings could have gotten him in a lower spot, and that’s something they apparently recognized.
The Score’s Josh Wegman is not a fan of the move, either:
This is not a knock on Mortiz Seider, whom the Red Wings took with the No. 6 pick. All indicators point to the German defenseman being a good player – but not great. He’s big, he can skate, defend well, and make a nice first pass, but his offensive upside is very limited. At sixth overall, teams should be aiming a bit higher. Especially the Red Wings, who have needs throughout their organization and should’ve take the best player available.
It’s difficult to question Steve Yzerman, arguably the best GM in hockey, but it’s not like he has spotless track record in the first round. He’s made risky picks before, and some, such as Brett Connolly (No. 6, 2010), Slater Koekkoek (No. 10, 2012), and Tony DeAngelo (No. 19, 2014), didn’t quite pan out.
If the Wings were that infatuated with Seider, they would’ve been better off trading down to select him and getting additional darts to throw on the board. For reference, The Athletic’s Corey Pronman had Seider as his 22nd ranked player, TSN’s Bob McKenzie had him at 16, and Sportsnet’s Sam Cosentino slotted him at 24.
Update #5: Auf Deutsch!
Moritz Seiders Reaktion darauf im NHL Draft 2019 als sechster Spieler´von den Detroit Red Wings gedraftet zu werden #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/hVIAbQch9E— NHL Deutsch (@NHLde) June 22, 2019
Update #6: From The Athletic’s Max Bultman (behind a paywall):
Clearly, the Red Wings like the player quite a bit. Exactly where Seider fell on Detroit’s board is, and will probably remain, a mystery, but the fact that he was drafted over players like Trevor Zegras, Dylan Cozens and Vasili Podkolzin means, by definition, the Red Wings preferred Seider to all of them. Yzerman was asked at one point about not choosing one of the centers and simply said, “Well, they’re all good players, including Moritz. Ultimately, we looked at the centers. We looked at the D. They’re all good. We chose the D.”
Yzerman also was clear in saying that any prospect Detroit selected at sixth overall would have filled a need, based on where Detroit is organizationally. Basically, whether it was a defenseman, center or winger, the Red Wings needed everything. They chose a player they felt is a big, smart defenseman who can skate, “and I think it’s a very valuable asset,” Yzerman said.
But mentioning they had explored a trade back and weren’t able to also seems to acknowledge the Red Wings thought the value might have been greater if they could have gotten him perhaps a couple of picks later. But the simple fact is the only way Detroit could guarantee it was going to get him was to pick him. So it did. And that will make it one of the most fascinating, scrutinized picks in recent memory.
Corey Pronman wrote Friday night that, in conversations with scouts, the pick “was met in part with amazement, in part admiration for the Wings to have the guts to make that decision, and a small minority endorsed the pick.”
