NHL.com/de’s Robin Patzwaldt posted a very lengthy article about Moritz Seider yesterday afternoon, so my apologies for not getting to this one sooner. It’s going to be very much so a rough translation of the original German, so here we go:
“Seider: This league is very mentally and physically challenging”
Three years after his debut, the German answered the questions of NHL.com/de
Exactly three years ago, on October 14th, 2021, the NHL career of German defenseman Moritz Seider began with the Detroit Red Wings. The traditional Michigan franchise selected the talented defenseman 6th overall in the 2019 NHL Draft. Since his debut at the beginning of the 2021-2022 season, the Zell-born defenseman has played in 248 games, has collected 21 goals and 115 assists, which adds up to 136 points. And at the end of his debut season, he won the Calder Trophy, which is awarded to the league’s best rookie.
After Monday’s morning skate, NHL.com/de had the opportunity to talk to Seider about his career in the NHL, and, in line with the work anniversary for Seider, also brought up current statements regarding his defenseman colleague Ben Chiarot, and Detroit coach Derek Lalonde.
“I’m currently very happy here. We started the season quite well as a team, especially on defense,” Seider said, and shied away from the attention regarding his current anniversary. Instead, he preferred to briefly explain the recipe for successes of the early season from his perspective. “It’s important to play very physically from the first game of the season. This gives you fresh self-confidence,” explained the German.
“My own point total isn’t particularly important to me. In the end, you want to be able to look in the mirror and say that you gave your best. That’s what I’m talking about to begin with. Statistics aren’t decisive for this. That’s why personal statistics don’t mean a lot to me, to be honest,” said the Red Wings defenseman.
Seider also let us know that the over-arching goal for him as a defensive specialist was quite different. “Of course, we want to prevent as many goals as possible in the league. Our goal is to take the team into the top 10 of the league in special teams. We’re on a good path, I think. Of course, there is still room for improvement, but the season is still young,” said the 23-year-old with motivation.
When asked whether he would have been particularly annoyed by the shortfall of the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring, since the Red Wings had suffered relatively many unfortunate breaks in terms of points lost at crucial moments, Seider gave a diplomatic answer: “At the end of last season, there are always moments when you think you’ve left important points here or there unnecessarily in some games. This will never be completely avoided, and was of course the case for us in the previous season. The goal of course must always be to reduce these slip-ups to the absolute minimum if possible to get the full points possible out of more games than in the previous season. This is the case for us.”
In terms of concrete memories of his debut on October 14th, 2021, when Seider’s team lost 7-6 to the reigning Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning during his first appearance in the NHL with the Red Wings, he played on the second defensive pair next to Nick Leddy, and received a whopping 20:21 of ice time (including 5:26 on the power play and 3:06 on the penalty-kill), Seider immediately brought up two archetypes.
“Back then, I was very excited,” recalls Detroit’s current flagship defenseman three years later. “That was a great experience for me, and of course I will never forget my first game with the team. It was really a very special day for me,” he beamed after the morning skate before the game against the New York Rangers on Monday evening.
Asked what he has learned since then, Seider said, “This league is mentally and physically challenging. You learn that quickly. You have to get used to this first. In the meantime, I have considerably more experience, I know the processes and the arenas. Then it’s a little easier,” said Seider.
Defensive colleague Chiarot had only words of praise for Seider on his anniversary. “Moritz is incredibly talented,” he said. “He can do everything, is very strong, mentally and physically. He has gained a lot of experience in the meantime. You can see this as he and his game improve day after day.”
Chiarot didn’t want to directly compare him to the other top defensive stars of the league, Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche or Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks. “Those two are incredibly strong offensive defensemen. Moritz is a somewhat different type. I don’t think you can compare him directly with them. His game isn’t necessarily measured by points. He’s so important otherwise for the team. His significance for the team goes beyond the pure numbers. They don’t tell the full story for him.”
Coach Lalonde also praised his protege in the highest form after being asked by us of the league anniversary. “Seider is an impressive player. We expect a lot from him every night. But he’s doing incredibly well and really is a great and team-helpful player on our team.”
