When the Red Wings’ future at captain suddenly came into focus after Dylan Larkin requested a trade, one name rose to the top fast: Moritz Seider.
Per reports from Ansar Khan, Seider is a real candidate to become Detroit’s next captain even if Larkin is still on the roster when the season opens. And if the organization decides it’s time to move on, the 25-year-old defenseman has built a case that’s hard to ignore.
Detroit took Seider sixth overall in the 2019 NHL Draft, a pick that caught plenty of people off guard at the time. Steve Yzerman saw a player who could anchor the blue line, and that bet has paid off.
Seider spent the 2019-2020 season with the Grand Rapids Griffins and the 2020-21 season developing in Sweden before making the Red Wings’ opening-night roster in 2021-22. He’s been there ever since.
Durability has been one of the biggest parts of his value. In five NHL seasons, Seider has appeared in all 410 regular-season games.
That kind of availability matters, and so does the way he plays when he’s out there. He’s become one of the league’s premier all-around defensemen while handling a massive workload for Detroit.
The production has climbed year after year. Seider broke in with 50 points as a rookie, then reached a career-high 60 points in the 2025-26 season. His career line now stands at 39 goals and 240 points in 410 games, which ranks 16th among NHL defensemen since he entered the league in 2021-22.
The ice time tells the same story. Seider’s role has grown almost every season, and in 2025-26 he averaged a career-best 25:39 per night, good for third in the NHL.
He’s also brought the kind of edge that shows up in the dirty areas: 908 hits in his NHL career, ranking 23rd in the league since 2021-22. He blocks shots, wins puck battles and brings a heavy presence every night.
That mix of production and responsibility is exactly why he fits the captain conversation. Seider already carries himself like a leader, and the league has noticed.
He won the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year in his first season, and this past year he also picked up Norris Trophy votes after posting career highs across the board. He didn’t make the finalist cut, but the recognition confirmed what Detroit has been seeing for a while.
If the Red Wings are stepping into a new chapter, Seider looks like the player who should help define it. He’s one of the team’s best players, one of its hardest workers and one of its most respected voices, all while still being in his mid-20s. For a team deciding who should wear the “C” next, he checks just about every box.
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