The Athletic’s Max Bultman has followed up his list of training camp expectations for the Red Wings’ forwards with a list of training camp questions about Detroit’s defense and goaltenders. Among his comments are the following:
Moritz Seider: How much better can he be?
There’s not much more that can be said about Seider’s stellar rookie season. He took the league by storm, delivering punishing hits and posting 50 points en route to the Calder Trophy. And now, all eyes turn toward his encore.
It’s going to be hard to top his debut, but expectations are rightly high for Seider, with many — including myself — believing he can join the league’s elite defensemen in the Norris Trophy conversation. Cale Makar and Adam Fox have shown in the past two seasons that voters have no issue honoring young defenders among the league’s very best. Of course, both Fox and Makar, among others, still stand as major obstacles to Seider actually winning the award any time soon, and it’s a high bar with four of the top five finishers for the award scoring more than 70 points last season.
But Seider still has a path to joining the periphery of that conversation thanks to his two-way ability. If he can add 10 or so points while continuing to improve on his natural defensive ability, he could be considered a top-10-to-15 blueliner by season’s end.
Ville Husso: How will he look in new surroundings?
Husso broke out last season in St. Louis, finishing seventh in Vezina voting after posting a .919 save percentage in 40 games.
That workload could be similar to what he’s asked to play this season in Detroit, where he joins Alex Nedeljkovic to form what should be a true tandem situation. But the degree of difficulty is still going to go up, as the Red Wings were one of the league’s worst defensive teams a year ago. How will Husso handle it if the team in front of him is giving up significantly more dangerous chances? There’s a whole new kind of pressure there.
Now, Detroit did make a clear effort to improve that part of its team this season, and maybe that will pay off. But after the last few seasons, I’m going to need to see it to believe it.
Continued (paywall);
I know it might be a little cheesy, but I can do something similar if you want me to. I apologize for being under the weather the last week as it’s limited my availability. I’m hoping that this damn cold will lift before I head to Traverse City.
