Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff wrote an article which discusses the Red Wings’ belief that offense from their defensemen will alleviate some of the team’s scoring issues:
Last season, Moritz Seider (5-42-47) was 29th in NHL scorer among blueliners and his totals led the Detroit back end. However, the Red Wings back end additions include Shayne Gostisbehere. Playing for Arizona and Carolina last season, he was 34 among NHL rearguards, posting 13-28-41 numbers. Gostisbehere’s 13 goals were rating him 13th among NHL defenders.
Jeff Petry, an acquisition from the Montreal Canadiens, has hit for double digits in goals and 40+ points in four separate NHL campaigns.
Seider thinks simply having defenseman who are talented with the puck on their stick will improve the club’s luck at both ends of the rink.
“The less we play in our zone, the more time we will have in the O zone,” Seider said. “That’s the ultimate goal. We want to set our guys up in the offense and have the puck more than we had it last year. We want to get better scoring chances. Ultimately, we just want to get some more goals. We want to score, we want to go out there and be the difference makers. If we play less defense, we’ll definitely have a better chance.”
