How the Red Wings’ Moritz Seider’s audacity and maturity led him to the Calder Trophy

Odds are, you’ve already seen the clip: Moritz Seider, in his first career NHL game, skating alongside Victor Hedman after a whistle, lifting his stick and swiping the dead puck away; Hedman coming to greet the rookie with a cross-check as a result; Seider going right back at him.

This was October, the first of what turned out to be 82 games for Seider in Detroit this past season. But the moment stands out as one of the most perfect encapsulations of his rookie year — right up there with his booming hits and clutch late-game heroics — because it told you so much about how he was approaching the hardest league in the world at age 20.

Unafraid. Undeterred. And unabashedly comfortable, even when starting down perhaps the best defenseman in the league.

By season’s end, Seider’s 50 points were the fourth most on the Red Wings, 19th-most by an NHL defenseman this season, and tied for the second-most by a rookie defenseman since 2005-06 (fifth-most on a per-game basis, among those who played at least 40 games). Four of his seven goals were game-winners. He did all of that while providing a bruising physical presence and making big defensive stops for a Detroit team that badly needed it.

“It was special to watch,” Red Wings teammate Robby Fabbri said. “It’s not every day you see a defenseman like that come in and have the impact on each and every game — in the D zone, in the offensive zone — that he had for our team.”

Tuesday night, that culminated with a fitting prize: Seider was awarded the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s best first-year player, becoming just the fourth defenseman to win the award since 2004.

Seider’s arrival in the NHL had been long-awaited — delayed a year by his 2020-21 season in Sweden, in order to play during the pandemic — and greatly anticipated.

By the time he debuted that October night against the defending champs, he had already played three pro seasons in three different pro leagues: one in his native Germany with Mannheim, one with AHL Grand Rapids, and one with SHL Rögle, where his star really took off.

Perhaps that experience played a role in how seemingly unfazed Seider was stepping into the NHL. Those core traits, however — that maturity and poise — have been with him for much longer — present even in his first pro season in Germany’s DEL in 2018-19.

“You would forget that he was in high school,” said Mannheim and Rögle teammate Ben Smith, “going to class still and coming and playing hockey with a bunch of men, bunch of dads doing their thing.”

“Those older, North American players (in the DEL), they went after him a couple of times,” recalled Mannheim GM Jan-Axel Alavaara. “But they stopped doing that. He had a couple of those huge reverse hits when there was like a yard sale, where there were helmets and gloves and sticks all over the place. And they learned it pretty quick, that even if he’s young, you can’t mess around with him.”

Sound familiar?

Late this season, Seider was asked about those big reverse hits, which by then had become his calling card in the NHL, too.

“I just try to protect myself,” he said. “It’s not like I’m looking for someone to take down. It’s just protect yourself, and then make a play.”

That same morning, before a game in Toronto, he was asked about the possibility of the moment that arrived Tuesday. What would it mean to win the Calder?

“Nothing, to be honest, right now,” Seider said. “For me it’s more about finishing the season strong. It’s definitely an honor, but I don’t even think about that at all.”

Seider, of course, will be more than forgiven for embracing the moment a bit more now that it’s arrived. Up on the stage Tuesday night, he called it “a really big honor” to win the award.

And those April answers — downplaying the potential for an individual award amid a losing season, and insisting his physical presence was just self preservation — may have been textbook cliched deflections. But they do speak to one of the most fascinating contrasts Seider displayed as a rookie.

Yes, he could come into press conferences and talk the talk of a seasoned vet. But through brief glimpses into what he was like around his teammates, he could also show the boundless joy that made him so beloved in places like Mannheim and Rögle.

Most famously, there was his web show with Joe Veleno (and occasionally Lucas Raymond) “The MoJoe Show,” in which Seider tried Apple Cider in Seattle, argued with Veleno over whose show it really was, and delivered such gems as “sun was shining, so was Moritz.”

In those moments, you saw a whole different Seider from the one media so often saw at the podium — a version much more similar the one who poked at Hedman in his debut.

“He turned 21 this year, it’s a game to him,” Detroit netminder Alex Nedeljkovic said. “And that’s great. … He’s very vocal in the room, he’s vocal on the ice. In practices he’s having a good time, he’s goofing around. I think everybody gets along with him really well, so he’s an easygoing guy, and it’s easy to get along with him. You need that kind of energy, you need it throughout an 82-game season. You need to have a lot of positivity.”

That ability to be loose when he wants, serious when he wants, and — on the ice — even a bit mean when he wants, is a rare balance that Seider seems to have had down for a while now. Thinking back to Mannheim, Alavaara recalled seeing that duality back at age 17 — Seider throwing big reverse hits in a game on a Friday, then showing up to a sponsor meeting and “tak(ing) over the show” with the microphone, too.

“That’s what makes him elite, I think,” Smith said.

At his end-of-season media session, fellow Detroit rookie Lucas Raymond marveled at the way Seider could move despite being so big and strong, and praised his shot and vision. Nedeljkovic pointed to the way Seider was constantly in the spotlight, constantly being discussed, “and he showed up every single night, and he did something special.”

That consistency when under the microscope is a skill just as much as the skating or vision is.

All of those are reasons he took home the Calder on Tuesday night. But it’s that rare blend that makes Seider’s future so tantalizing to imagine.

Days after the season ended, Nedeljkovic was already openly wondering — after such a stunning first season — what Seider might look like if he came back even stronger next season.

“If he gets that much better, how special of a season will next year be?” Nedeljkovic wondered. “And then if he does it again the following year, or even throughout the year, if he’s getting better and better? Like, it’s exciting to see the potential there.”

“It’s going to be interesting to see him in two-to-three years, where he is in (the) NHL,” Alavaara said. “I think he will be one of the Norris Trophy candidates, for sure.”

The Red Wings are certainly hoping so — and after what Seider did in Year 1, it feels entirely possible that he will be.

But, true to Seider’s answer about the Calder back in April, you can bet there are other priorities in view first.

Recently, Smith was watching videos from Mannheim’s championship run in Seider’s draft year — back when the world hadn’t yet taken full notice of Seider the player, much less the personality.

As Smith rolled the tape, he noticed something that, by now, makes all the sense in the world.

“Mo was in the center of the room dancing,” Smith said. “It was just like this 17-year-old kid, and it was just like, ‘That’s Mo, doing his thing.’”

(Photo: John E. Sokolowski / USA Today)