Updated 2x at 6:56 PM: Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider spoke in surprisingly hushed tones when he addressed the media today…
But Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff duly notes that it’s officially Seider season, after a long set of social media crushes on the German defender turned Swedish Hockey League superstar, and while Seider is genuinely happy to have finally reached the cusp of making an NHL team’s roster, he’s not letting the memes go to his head:
“I’m super happy right now,” Seider said. “It was a big wait to get here. I’m really proud of myself, making my way up here and now I’m here and I’m really looking forward to it.”
As for all the social media buzz about Seider, touting him as the German Lidstrom, insisting that there will be nothing but blue skies in the Red Wings’ future from the moment he plays his first shift, well, hate to break it to you but your crush – yeah, he hasn’t really noticed you.
“It’s definitely not getting in my head,” Seider said of the social media frenzy surrounding him. “I just want to be around the guys. I want to come to the rink and work hard and so far I’m enjoying that. It’s obviously cool that the fans are really excited. All in all, I think I’m even more excited.”
There probably hasn’t been this much hype about the arrival of a Red Wings prospect since Henrik Zetterberg showed up for the NHL rookie tournament in 2002. And that one turned out okay. That being the case, the Wings are of the belief that the best tack to take with the good ship is to dial back the intensity.
“I’m not going to put an expectation on him,” Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “I think he’ll get the opportunity to play and play big minutes as he earns them. If he earns more, he’ll get more. If he doesn’t earn more, he won’t get more. So, we’ll see how it goes. He’s definitely a guy who’s got a lot of potential that I think is going to become reality but now he has to go out on a game by game basis and do it.”
Continued; I’m expecting Seider to make the team, and take some lumps early on, but learn from them quickly.
Update: Here’s a little more on Seider from MLive’s Ansar Khan:
Seider aims to be trusted in all situations.
“Moving the puck well, defend really well,” he said. “In the first couple of games being really solid defensively and offense will come automatically. I hope I can bring that to the team.”
Seider is aware of the buzz surrounding him and said he doesn’t feel any added pressure.
“It’s definitely not getting in my head,” he said. “I just want to be around the guys. I want to come to the rink and work hard and so far, I’m enjoying that. It’s obviously cool that the fans are really excited. All in all, I think I’m even more excited.
“It was a big wait to get here. I’m really proud of myself, making my way up here, and I’m really looking forward to it.”
Update #2: The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan wrote even more about Seider for a subscriber-only article:
Coach Jeff Blashill has been pairing Seider with newly acquired Nick Leddy these first few days of training camp, and the duo could stay until the start of the season. The Wings are doing everything they can to make Seider as comfortable as possible.
“Moritz will get every opportunity in the preseason,” general manager Steve Yzerman said in his pre-training camp news conference. “We’ll play him a lot in the preseason to get him as comfortable as he can be to potentially start the regular season.”
Seider spent two weeks before camp with Dylan Larkin, attending several football games and enjoying the Detroit area.
“Just tried to have a good time and the weather was great, so we enjoyed it a lot,” Seider said.
Larkin talked about the maturity and poise Seider has on and off the ice. The veteran sees unique talent in the young 6-foot-5 defenseman.
“He’s a special player,” Larkin said. “You see with him, Lucas Raymond as well. They’re smart players, they’re smart guys. They work extremely hard. You see those high-end skill guys, they play pro, they understand the game, so watching them skate with NHL players, they seem to fit right in and it’s great to see.”
Continued (paywall)
This young man has so much going for himself he likely may be mentioned in the same way many of the Wings legends have been. His parents gave him a solid foundation as a person first, then kick started his hockey career.
Very impressed with his maturity at such a young age. I do not doubt there is much he can’t do. Hopefully some fun years for fans as they see his career blossom.
A good and unique young man.