Detroit Red Wings need to keep Moritz Seider and Jake Walman together

The Detroit Red Wings went into the season hoping that Moritz Seider and Ben Chiarot would be the team’s top pairing. After signing Ben Chiarot to a four-year, $19 million contract with a $4.75 million AAV to join the Red Wings’ defense core, he has regressed.

Things have not worked out how the Detroit Red Wings planned when playing Chiarot alongside Seider. Chiarot has brought value to the team defensively and physically, but things did not go as planned on the top pairing at all. His underwhelming performance even prompted a change.

The Red Wings opted to switch up the defense pairings and see how things worked out. It’s been some time since they have done so, and the team’s new top pairing continues to prove beneficial for the Red Wings’ defense core.

Jake Walman handles the left side, and Moritz Seider handles the right side as the team’s top pairing. It’s become a sturdy pairing, with both players feeding off each other quite well. Even after Seider had a quiet start to the season, the new pairing seemed to kickstart his offense and help him settle into his sophomore season.

Detroit Red Wings need to keep Jake Walman & Moritz Seider together.

Walman has continued to emerge in his breakout season this year after being acquired by the Red Wings at the trade deadline in 2021-22. Walman even earned himself a contract extension before the trade deadline as he continued to really find his footing and prove he’s a good partner for Seider.

Walman’s locked up in Detroit through the 2025-26 season, and even with a regression, he would still make for a great second or third-pairing defender. It’s been a bit of a coming-out party for the 26-year-old, who has played a much more sound game and even found some offense to set a career-high already.

Through 47 games played in 2022-23, Walman has seven goals and five assists for 12 total points, setting a career-high for goals and points. On the other hand, Seider woke up from his slumber and has started to find his way onto the scoresheet, more often playing alongside Walman.

In his rookie campaign, Seider played in all 82 games, scoring seven goals and adding 43 assists for 50 total points en route to a Calder Trophy victory. After waking up in 2022-23, his offense is headed toward a similar level as last year, but it will be interesting to see how he finishes the year.

Through 66 games played in 2022-23, Seider has five goals and 30 assists for 35 total points for the Red Wings. He and Walman have done well playing alongside one another. Even if this is not a new concept for the team, the Red Wings need to continue to do it.

While Walman may not be the long-term battery mate for Seider, the two have done quite well alongside each other in 2022-23. It ain’t broke, so it doesn’t need fixing. Keep the two together and see if both can finish the 2022-23 season strong.