Before joining the DEB selection, he first went home to his family: “It was important for me to recharge my batteries and not think about ice hockey for once,” Seider told SWR Sport. For him, family is the best place to ground himself. Moritz also had a culinary longing for his dad’s casseroles: “The reserves are recharged in mom and dad’s kitchen.” It was urgently necessary to recharge the batteries after a very successful but also exhausting season: “
There was no sign of any adjustment difficulties in his first NHL season with the former Mannheimer Seider. Instead, he completed all 82 games, provided 43 assists, scored seven goals and thus reached the milestone of 50 points scorer. Very rare numbers for such a young defender.
Seider could become the first German to receive the Calder Trophy for best NHL rookie. He is driven by perfectionism. With self-confidence and impressive composure, he convinced right away, played ripped off and made impressive checks. The strong and 1.93 meter tall Seider doesn’t shy away from top stars. Even NHL national goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer looks at highlight videos from Seider and judges: “Beast Mode!”
The youngster has not yet fully grasped what he has achieved. “Every athlete has the idea of wanting to be among the best in the world, and I try to live up to that,” says Seider: “But you have to pinch yourself from time to time and be proud of what happened.”
Success with detours
At first, Seider’s overseas career faltered. Drafted sixth in the 2019 NHL draft, he first played on the Red Wings’ farm team, the Grand Rapids Griffins, in the second-rate AHL. The following season we went on loan to Sweden. In the strong Swedish league, the German was voted the best defender. Only after the 2021 World Cup with the brilliant semi-finals, the award for the best World Cup defender and election to the All-Star Team did he return to the NHL.
At the upcoming World Cup, Seider does not yet see himself as a leading player, but rather as a kind of “link” in the field of tension between new and established forces. On the ice, Seider hopes to get some “freedom” in his game. Above all, he promises to want to be dominant with the team and “with the disc”. That means not just defending and waiting for counterattacks as so often in previous years, but also “playing with a lot of pressure to score and being creative.”
At the age of 21, Moritz Seider is playing his third World Championship in Finland. At the start on Friday (7:20 p.m.) in Helsinki, one of the biggest numbers in international ice hockey awaits: record world champions and defending champions Canada. Nevertheless, it is important “to get the tournament off to a good start. The first game will be decisive for the group phase,” Seider told SWR Sport and gave the first warning shot: “Once you get the train rolling, it runs by itself.”
Source: SWR