Not even the most ardent Moritz Seider believers could have seen this coming, not even Jeff Blashill who first saw Seider play as an 18-year-old for Team Germany at the 2019 World Championships shortly before the Red Wings drafted him sixth overall.
"I had an early look at him where I was like, ‘Ohh, this guy’s got a chance to be pretty good,'" Blashill said this week.
But this good?This soon? Even after watching Seider transition "seamlessly" to the AHL in 2019-20, even after watching him win Defenseman of the Year in the Swedish Hockey League in 2020-21 a month before winning Defenseman of the Tournament at the World Championships, even after watching him win a job on the Wings' top D pair in training camp, Blashill would have to be lying to say he foresaw Seider doing Nicklas Lidstrom things as a rookie.
Maybe the only person who wouldn't be lying is Lidstrom himself. Remember what he said about Seider early this season?
"I don’t think I was ready to play at his level when I was 20," Lidstrom said. "I wasn’t as good as he was then."
Lidstrom was still playing in Sweden at the age of 20. But he came over to Detroit the next year and tore up the NHL, the start of a Hall of Fame career that yielded seven Norris Trophies and four Stanley Cups. Lidstrom racked up 60 points in 1991-92, first among rookie defensemen and tied for third among all rookie scorers. His 49 assists ranked eighth among all NHL defensemen.
30 years later, Seider is on pace for 60 points. His 40 points are currently first among rookie defensemen and fourth among all rookie scorers. His 35 assists are tied for eighth among all NHL defensemen. This is 21-year-old Lidstrom recreated, only younger and ... better? With an assist on Lucas Raymond's OT winner Tuesday against the Hurricanes, Seider pushed his point streak to seven games, a franchise rookie record for a defenseman. Lidstrom's longest streak was five games.
The record Seider broke belonged to three-time All-Star Reed Larson, who went six straight games in 1977-78 as part of a season in which he also scored 60 points, most by a rookie defenseman in Red Wings history. Seider already ranks third on the same list with two months left in the season. And with due respect to Larson and Lidstrom, he's doing this in an NHL where offense is harder to produce than ever.
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If Seider stays on pace, he won't just become the first rookie defenseman in 30 years to score 60 points for the Red Wings. He'll become the first rookie defenseman in 30 years to score 60 points ... in the NHL. That number hasn't been reached by anyone else since Brian Leetch in 1988-89. And while we're here, Seider is also on pace for the most assists (53) by a rookie defenseman since Chris Chelios in 1984-85. This is rarefied air, folks.
"As we got into this season, I felt that he could be a guy who was a difference maker, not just a good young player. And that’s a huge difference," Blashill said. "We didn’t want to give him too much, too soon, but he’s grabbed more, he’s grabbed more, he’s grabbed more."
Seider has played 22:58 per game this season, which in the past 10 games has ballooned to 24:47. These are monster minutes for any defenseman in the NHL, much less a rookie. And he's managed an even plus/minus on a team with a goal differential of negative 34.
"He's become a guy who’s out there playing against the other team’s best, he’s on our power play, on our penalty kill, he’s in all those different roles," said Blashill.
With his 6'4 frame, Seider has also become something of a punisher. He's almost impossible to knock off his skates, but he'll happily knock you off yours. Blashill said it owes to Seider's body leverage, which has gotten "way better" since the start of the season. It's a reminder that this special talent has so much further to go, even as he storms into the NHL like the greatest defenseman in franchise history.
"He’s done a good job," said Blashill. "He’s a very, very good young player who still needs to get better."