Defenseman Moritz Seider was the sixth overall pick by the Detroit Red Wings in the 2019 NHL Draft, and he has been in Detroit since the 2021-22 season. In all five of those years the Red Wings have missed the playoffs, a drought that now sits at 10 straight seasons and is the longest active streak in the NHL. The Moritz Seider Norris Trophy argument, once a Detroit talking point, is now coming from outside Michigan.

Seider won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2021-22 and was named to the NHL All-Rookie Team that same season. He is 25 years old and about to enter the prime of his career. If this franchise is going to end the drought, this is the year he has to be in the Norris conversation.

A National Analyst Makes the Moritz Seider Norris Trophy Case

Adam Gretz of Bleacher Report ranked the early Norris Trophy candidates for 2026-27 on Wednesday. The usual suspects sit at the top of his list: Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche, Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Rasmus Dahlin of the Buffalo Sabres, Quinn Hughes of the Minnesota Wild and Jake Sanderson of the Ottawa Senators.

Gretz then listed the names sitting just outside that top five, and Seider is one of them. “Seider should have received more Norris Trophy attention in 2025-26, and had the Red Wings made the playoffs, there would have been an argument that he deserved more MVP consideration,” Gretz wrote. “Heck, he probably should have, even without the playoffs. He is as solid a two-way defenseman as there is in the NHL right now.”

A 60-Point Season and an Unbroken Ironman Streak

Seider played all 82 games last season and put up career highs across the board: 10 goals, 50 assists, 60 points, a plus-15 rating and 25:40 of ice time a night. He has not missed a game in his five-year NHL career, a run that reached 410 straight games by the end of the season. He is also doing it on one of the friendliest contracts in the league for a defenseman of his caliber.

Two More Games to Make the Case

The NHL moves to an 84-game regular season in 2026-27, the first time the league has played that many games since 1993-94. That is two more nights for Seider to build a resume, and it would be no surprise to see him play all 84 of them. If he plays like a serious Norris candidate, the Red Wings have a real chance to finally end the drought.

Seider is not the only long shot on Gretz’s board. Lane Hutson of the Montreal Canadiens, Evan Bouchard of the Edmonton Oilers, Matthew Schaefer of the New York Islanders and Adam Fox of the New York Rangers also landed just outside the top five for the 2026-27 season.