Did anyone talk up his offense when he was drafted? I remember a lot of talk about potential, and being very good defensively, etc., but his play with the puck and in the offensive zone has been a big surprise.
Nobody talked up his offense which is why your typical internet scouting sources had him rated lower than NHL teams apparently.
i believe one of the outlets when he was drafted had his scouting report on there saying he was a "defensive defenseman".. so no, i dont think anyone talked about his offense, really, at all.
His offense looked good to me at Worlds, first time I saw him. That's why I found it strange how he was touted as simply a defensive defenseman.
Perhaps stat-watchers who are unable to take into account the difficulty of playing in an adult pro league at 17 are to blame.
These assessments aren't really accurate or fair. Seider was a big-time offensive contributor in juniors. What happened is that he had a massive growth spurt in his final year that hurt his dynamic ability a little, and from there, he turned more and more into defence-first player, also thanks to his role on the pro team.
But even then, it was always clear he was extremely smart and poised with the puck. He created room for himself in the D-zone before playing accurate outlet passes etc. He made lots of smart pinches in the offensive zone to keep the puck in and join the attack. He jumped in on attacks after his team won possession in the D-zone. When he went back to the junior national team, he contributed a lot offensively and on the PP.
However, what people were saying was that he's not super dynamic and doesn't have great puck skills. He's no Bowen Byram. He won't become a Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, or Sam Girard type D-man. He's decent on breakouts when he carries the puck, but so many of them ended in dump-ins because he couldn't beat defenders one-on-one. On the offensive blue line, he often tried to fool defenders with quick fakes etc., but usually struggled to do that and ended up dumping the puck deep. He scored a couple goals from the blue line, but his wrist shot isn't overly strong and his slapshot/one-timer is almost non-existent.
Yes, the above can partly be attributed to him being a 17-year-old playing against pros. But comparing him to other European D-men who did the same thing in the past years, it looked like the offensive skill and dynamic ability weren't quite there. Yes, he is great with the puck in the D-zone and yes, he can distribute the puck well in the O-zone. But no, he likely won't be a huge offensive contributor. NHL PP2? Sure. PP1? Probably not. And this is what was said all season long.