Things have been anything but steady this off-season within the walls of the Detroit Red Wings organization. But for star defenceman and assistant captain Moritz Seider, the focus remains on the ice.
Over the summer, Detroit saw franchise icon Steve Yzerman step down from the role of general manager, forward Patrick Kane depart in free agency and current captain Dylan Larkin request a trade — an ask that remains unfulfilled with training camp less than a month away.
Despite all the upheaval off the ice, Seider said Friday while speaking to reporters during the European Player Media Tour that his time away from Hockeytown has allowed him to avoid getting caught up in all the turmoil.
"Sometimes it's good to just be at home," Seider said. "Get away from everything a little bit, focusing on your stuff, focusing on what you can control."
The 2021-22 Calder Trophy winner is coming off a 2025-26 campaign in which he recorded a career high in goals (10), points (60), plus/minus (plus-15) and average ice time per game (25:40). However, the Red Wings weren't able to take their star blue-liner to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in his career, going 3-8-2 in their final 13 games to miss the post-season.
It marked the 10th consecutive season in which Detroit has missed the playoffs.
"All the other topics, they're meant to be decided by management and I'm a player and don't have to think about that too much," Seider said. "I can just come and do my job, and I will be excited for a new year, and until then, I think there are some questions that need to be answered, but they can't be answered by me."
So, as the Red Wings look to snap that drought in 2026-27, Seider wants to play his part by leaping into the conversation as one of the best defencemen in hockey.
"I mean, you should always treat it like the sky is the limit; if you don't aim for the stars, it's tough to reach them," he said. "If you don't want to compare yourself to the best, you're probably never going to be in a conversation with them.
"It's been really good what I achieved so far, but there's plenty of room to work on. There's plenty of opportunity to get better, and that's something I have to shift my focus to because you want to get better, you want to be in conversation with the best defencemen in the league. I'm not there yet, but obviously that's where I see my opportunity to shine is to just get better and better every single year."
Last season, the 25-year-old from Germany, earned down-ballot consideration in both the Hart and Norris Trophy voting. He even received five first-place votes in the Norris balloting.
But he pointed to the defensive side of his game as an area that he hopes to improve going forward.
"I want to establish myself as a guy that people are not happy to see on the ice," Seider said. "I think that's one of the biggest compliments you could get is that people are not happy to see you — in a good way.
"I think that's where I see my challenge is to do everything I can to shut the best forwards down in every single game. And I think if I can approach that, I give our team a good chance to win. I think you can win a game 1-0 and if you do that, you get two points and that's a very simple message."
