MUNICH - The Detroit Red Wings are staring at another offseason of uncertainty, but Moritz Seider isn’t interested in getting pulled into the noise.
With the general manager’s chair still empty and Dylan Larkin’s offseason trade request unresolved, Detroit is dealing with plenty of moving parts. Seider, though, is choosing the lane he can actually control: his own game.
“It’s hard, obviously,” Seider told The Athletic at the NHL’s European Player Media Tour on Friday in Munich. “You always have big expectations going into a fresh year, and there are a lot of question marks.
The great thing about that is you can only control yourself. That’s where I see my biggest challenge.
I’ve been working out like crazy, I do my job, and I’ll be very excited to get on the plane to Detroit and see all of the boys.”
That kind of focus has become a defining trait for the 25-year-old defenseman, who has grown into Detroit’s best player and one of the league’s premier blue-liners. He finished fifth in Norris Trophy voting last season, a clear sign that his name now belongs in the same breath as the game’s elite defensemen.
The organization that drafted him has changed around him. Steve Yzerman, the GM who took Seider sixth overall in 2019, was removed from that role on July 15 after Detroit missed the playoffs for the seventh straight year under his watch, extending the franchise’s drought to 10 seasons overall. Yzerman has been shifted into a senior adviser role, and the Red Wings still haven’t named a replacement.
Seider made it clear he hasn’t forgotten who believed in him first.
“I can only say how thankful I am for his opportunity back in ’19, where he saw something in me a lot of people didn’t see at the time,” Seider said of Yzerman. “He took a big risk putting my name on this board that early, and I think that’s something that obviously makes my connection a little bit more special with him, and that’s something I’ll always really be thankful for.”
For Seider, the next chapter is about pushing his own ceiling higher. He’s already on a deep-value contract that runs through 2031 at $8.55 million per season, and last year’s production - 60 points along with strong underlying numbers - showed just how much impact he can have.
He’s not satisfied with merely being part of the Norris conversation once.
“You should always aim for the stars,” he said. “If you don’t want to play with the best, you’re never going to get there, and if you’re satisfied with the season you had, well, good luck.
Then it’s going to be a long way. You always should look ahead and see what’s next.
“I feel like there’s more in the tank, there’s more to achieve. Yes, it was cool to have the first taste of being thrown in the conversations with the best defensemen, but you want to be there every single year. You want to have your name compared with the best of the best, and I’m very far away from that.
“I think next year will be a great step to get one step closer to being in that conversation.”
Seider also sidestepped the swirling questions around Larkin’s situation, saying those decisions belong elsewhere. League sources have said a disconnect between Larkin and Yzerman played a major role in the captain’s desire to move, though it remains possible the issue gets resolved without a trade. For now, nothing can really be sorted out until the new GM is in place.
“Those are definitely things no player should be asked or should talk about,” he said. “I’m very good in the background.
I do my job, I’m very excited about next year and wearing the winged wheel again, but those are things for our owner. I think he probably has a plan in place, and I’ll be very pleased to meet the new leader of our franchise once he is selected.
“He will obviously have a lot of work to do. We’re still looking to fix some things.”
Detroit’s best hope, at least from Seider’s perspective, is that the talent already in the room can keep rising. He pointed to young pieces such as defenseman Simon Edvinsson and forward Marco Kasper as players who can help raise the team’s ceiling.
Still, the goal that matters most hasn’t changed. Seider wants playoff hockey back in Detroit, and he knows the longer that wait drags on, the more the uncertainty around the franchise will continue.
“It’s time,” Seider said. “You feel bad for everyone in the city.
You feel bad for the arena. It’s such a precious building, and it hasn’t seen a playoff game since opening (in 2017).
I think it’s time to pay back for not only the city, but also the fans, because they’ve been behind us for the good times and now for numerous years of not-so-good times.
“Hopefully we can turn the page and get a real special atmosphere.”
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