Seider was Seider. He was patient with the puck, he was always in position without it, he made smart choices on the power play and he gapped extremely well. When he was on the ice, Germany never looked out of place in one of the tournament’s toughest groups in recent memory. He was tasked with shutting down the best players in the tournament and creating offence. If he did neither, Germany was going to get exposed. He did both, and they excelled. I’m confident (and by confident I mean almost certain) if they were in Group A instead of Group B that Germany wouldn’t have played for relegation. Slovakia would have. His cross-ice vision has improved, too, which gives him an added playmaking ability.
Germany head coach Tobias Abstreiter acknowledged Seider was the deciding factor in Germany’s success.
“He had 27 minutes average ice time, so it was a big, big factor,” Abstreiter said. “He took this team on his back.”
Technically, Seider is eligible to return to Edmonton and Red Deer for the 2021 world juniors. That’s anybody’s guess, though, as his trajectory might be headed toward the NHL.
“What’s next year? I have no idea, I have no clue. It would be a nice thing to play another tournament in Edmonton. But who knows,” he said, before insisting he wasn’t tired from the big role he’d been asked to play this year.
“I had a lot of minutes in Grand Rapids, too. I was above 20. So, I was pretty comfortable, the legs are fine. That’s all you want when you play against the top nations, getting ice time and showing yourself (to) the world. It was nice to see my family. It was a long time without them so that gave me a huge push.”