The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton discusses potential partners for Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider this upcoming season, suggesting that Ben Chiarot and Simon Edvinsson are the most likely partners for Seider when push comes to shove:
If Chiarot enters camp as the favorite for this role in the eyes of the coaching staff, there can be little doubt that Edvinsson will begin the year as the fan favorite for Seider’s partner. It’s not hard to see way, as the combination of size, skill with the puck, and skating that an Edvinsson-Seider pairing would offer makes it an impossibly tantalizing long-term possibility.
Though they’ve yet to spend significant time together, in theory, there is a natural stylistic fit between the two players. Edvinsson could offer similar skating and puck moving to Walman, while his six-foot-six frame could add an even more formidable physicality than Walman could in the D zone.
The question with Edvinsson is whether he can earn sufficient trust from Detroit’s coaching staff to play the volume and difficulty of minutes required of Seider’s partner. If last season is any indicator, there’s reason for optimism on that front.
Last spring, upon being called up, Edvinsson wasted no time in earning a robust role, regularly at or beyond the 20-minute mark as his team pushed desperately for a playoff spot.
“Defending well,” coach Derek Lalonde said at the time, when asked how Edvinsson showed his readiness for a serious role at a pivotal moment in the season. “He’s managed the game very well. He’s not found himself in much trouble, but he’s also brought some physicality to his game, which is good. His size too—the long stick. Obviously, he made some plays defensively with the long stick, but he kept a couple plays offensively alive with his long stick that end up in the back of their net 20, 30 seconds later.”
Continued; my best guess is a little counter-intuitive: I think that it’s going to have to wait until training camp and the exhibition season to be sorted out, and I would not be surprised whether we’re talking about Chiarot, Edvinsson or even somebody else, like Olli Maatta, joining the fray if injuries strike.
At this point, the Red Wings need to be flexible in terms of determining which player(s) are the “best fits” for Seider’s style of play, and hell, it might involve signing an unrestricted free agent or making a trade before all is said and done.
I appreciate Stockton’s educated guessing here. I just don’t know what’s going to happen in the end, and sometimes, “I don’t know yet” is the most honest answer.
