MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a Saturday notebook article discussing the increasingly physical presence provided by one Moritz Seider:
“He’s got a definite toughness to him, a physicality side to him would be the way I would describe it,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “If you search the Internet, you’ll see a loop of huge kind of (Niklas) Kronwall-type hits last year in the Swedish Hockey League. I think he’s got to get stronger and thicker to do that in the National Hockey League, but he’s got that edge to him for sure and he can punish people from a physical standpoint.”
Seider knows how to utilize his 6-foot-4, 207-pound frame.
“I thought he was somebody who had an edge and was physical in the American League (with the Grand Rapids Griffins in 2019-20),” Blashill said. “I watched him in the Swedish Hockey League (last season), and he had definite physicality. So that led me to believe he’d have an opportunity to do that at our level. I think it’s coming, and I also think it’s going to come even more as he continues to build that 20-year-old body into a 22-year-old body. I think he’s ultimately going to put on more mass and add power and put on more strength. As he does that it’ll be an even bigger factor.”
Seider doesn’t seek out jarring hits like Kronwall did, but he doesn’t avoid opportunities to deliver a hit.
“It’s just being at the right spot,” Seider said earlier in the week. “Sometimes if you do things well, you don’t even have to kill a guy or even make the big hit, because you can just outskate him and take the puck. I think we all agree we would always like to have the puck on our stick than chasing it. That’s just a timing thing and I’m just trying to figure that out day by day.”
Seider knew the NHL would be much more physical than the Swedish Hockey League, where he was named defenseman of the year with Rogle BK.
