The Athletic asked its NHL writers which players have surprised in a positive way at the halfway point of the NHL season, and Max Bultman made an obvious choice regarding the Detroit Red Wings’ roster:
Detroit Red Wings
Simon Edvinsson: This is always what the Red Wings had hoped and envisioned for Edvinsson — but the surprise is how quickly he’s been able to reach this level. He spent most of the first half playing on Detroit’s top defense pairing, and even now that new coach Todd McLellan has split up Edvinsson and Moritz Seider, the 21-year-old blueliner is having a great season. Despite having just 25 games of NHL experience coming into the season, he’s been a very good defender right away, and he’s added 15 points in 36 games through Wednesday despite not getting any power-play time. Edvinsson looks like a top-pairing caliber defender for a long time to come. — Max Bultman
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