Red Wings director of player development and assistant director of player personnel Shawn Horcoff spoke with The Athletic to discuss why Seider won’t be playing at the tournament, preview those who will be and discuss some of Detroit’s prospects from the 2021 NHL Draft.

For some of the more recent draftees that you got to see at the World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth, what were your first impressions of Shai Buium?

Actually, I thought he was great. I saw Shai play on video from last year, never got to see him play live, but I thought he went in there and he played well. He’s got lots of tools, he’s very raw, he’s a big kid, he can skate, he’s got some good offensive instincts. So there’s big upside to him there and we’re going to be following him closely this year in Denver.

I know it’s been mostly preseason and Champions League in Europe, but any early thoughts on what Simon Edvinsson has looked like and what you’d like to see from him?

He has played some games, and he’s played very well actually. Obviously, his skating is no secret, but he looks comfortable. I think that’s the biggest thing. That’s not an easy league to play in for a newly drafted player or any young player, frankly. And Frölunda’s no easy place, to make things even harder, because they always have such a good quality team with lots of veterans and they’re a threat to win that league every single year. So the good news is they’re very happy with him there, he’s got a lot of NHL and pro tools, and obviously we’re excited to see him now play some real games. They start this Saturday, all the guys do over there — Finnish guys, Sweden and Finland. So looking forward to see those guys play some real games coming up.

How about Albert Johansson? Any impressions on his summer or anything from Nik Kronwall?

Albert, obviously, he wanted to stay back there this year and play in Färjestad, and we’re fine with that because obviously his progression has been good there. I think he had a really good year last year. I think he’s a kid this year that you’re going to see hopefully playing top line minutes there, play in all situations. I’m hoping if he plays well enough, which he should, that he should get some chances on the national ream tournaments to play for the Swedish team when it comes to those men’s national team tournaments when they break. But he’s a guy that we like. He’s obviously a very good skater, moves the puck well, has good tools and is progressing nicely.

more (paid) and The Malk Report has some additional questions for Horcoff too...