Detroit Red Wings stun by picking Moritz Seider in NHL draft

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — At sixth overall in the 2019 NHL draft, the Detroit Red Wings picked German defenseman Moritz Seider at Rogers Arena.

Seider was rookie of the year in the DEL, Germany’s top men’s hockey league in 2018-19. He had six points in 29 games for Mannheim. He brings size at 6 feet 3 and 208 pounds, and shoots right. Moritz looked stunned to hear his name called so early. 

It was the first pick with Steve Yzerman as general manager. Seider was ranked sixth among European skaters in final draft rankings. The Wings passed up several highly rated forwards — Dylan Cozens, Trevor Zegras, Cole Caufield — and the pick reflects the lack of defensemen depth in the organization. 

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Jack Hughes of the U.S. NTDP went first overall, as he’d been projected to do for more than a year. The New Jersey Devils had the luck of selecting. him. The New York Rangers picked Kaapo Kakko at second. Those two were expected,

The Chicago Blackhawks chose center Kirby Dach at third overall. He was someone the Wings scouted heavily and had very high on their list. Bowen Byram, the top-rated defenseman, went at fourth overall to the Colorado Avalanche. 

The Los Angeles Kings picked NTDP’s Alex Turcotte at fifth.

Seider joins recent first round picks in 2018’s Filip Zadina (sixth), 2017’s Michael Rasmussen (ninth), 2016’s Dennis Cholowski (20th) and 2015’s Evgeny Svechnikov (19th). Cholowski is a defenseman, all the others are forwards.

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