Abel to Yzerman

Abel to Yzerman

Waiting On Moritz Seider

05/23/2021 at 6:21am EDT

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

“I want to temper the enthusiasm and the excitement,” Yzerman said. “He’s a great young player. His next move is to the NHL. We’ll see how training camp, the preseason, goes. It’s a huge step up from the American league or the Swedish league to the NHL, but he probably exceeded our expectations last year going into the American league, he did very well.

“He’s got size. His skills are good. He’s got a lot of work to do, but I think there’s a lot of potential for him. We’re excited to have him over here next year. Our hope is he’s ready to play for the Red Wings at the start of the season.”

Potentially, the Wings’ right-side defense next season features Seider, Filip Hronek and either Troy Stecher or Gustav Lindstrom. On the left, Danny DeKeyser is the only veteran under contract; he and Hronek have a history of pairing well. Seider has been vocal about how much it helped his development in Sweden to play with veteran Eric Gelinas, and that’s why Yzerman might re-sign Staal — he’s closing in on 1,000 games played but still remembers how much it helped him to be partnered with a veteran his first years in the NHL....

Seider projects to be a significant player in the rebuild; maybe not as soon as next season, but certainly within the next few years. He already holds a piece of Wings history — he’s the first Red Wings defenseman since 1975 to be drafted in the top six. (Rick Lapointe was selected No. 5 overall that year, and He only played a season and a half for the franchise.)

The last defensive prospect with this much buzz was Niklas Kronwall. Taken 29th overall in 2000), he played 20 games with the Wings in 2003-04, then spent all of 2004-05 in the AHL because of the labor dispute that wiped out that NHL season. With the Griffins, he dominated — 13 goals and 40 assists in 76 games — and was named the AHL's top defenseman.

Yzerman is right to want to keep expectations in check: It’s hard for a young player, especially a defenseman, to make an impact right away. But Seider is poised to add moxie to a team that needs it, and that’s been building since the day Yzerman drafted him.

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