The Friday Four is a collection of thoughts and information on some intriguing player storylines from around the NHL. On deck this week is:
• Wings have found a unicorn in Moritz Seider
• Dylan Guenther always comes up clutch
• Justin Sourdif starring for Capitals
• Fraser Minten taking advantage of opportunity with Bruins
Moritz Seider, Detroit Red Wings
Death, taxes and the Detroit Red Wings making the playoffs.
Those were the three guarantees in life for a long time. The Wings made the playoffs from 1990-2016, a 25-season stretch where only a lockout could stop them. That must seem like a lifetime ago for Wings fans, though, as Detroit has now missed spring hockey for nine consecutive campaigns. A lengthy rebuild under the watch of Steve Yzerman, dubbed the "Yzerplan," has taken far longer than anyone in the organization hoped. That said, patience may finally be paying off. Detroit is sitting second in the Atlantic, looking poised to finally end its lengthy playoff drought, and Moritz Seider, the backbone of their blue line, is the biggest reason the Wings appear to have turned a corner.
Seider has been a standout defenceman for some time now, but this year he has taken his game to a different level and is starting to get mentioned in the same conversation with the league’s elite rearguards. The 24-year-old’s unique blend of size, skill, physicality and the ability to play in every situation makes him somewhat of a unicorn when it comes to No. 1 defenders.
Detroit leans on Seider heavily, to the tune of more than 25 minutes a night. That’s the sixth-highest ice time per game in the league and nearly three more minutes than Detroit’s next-highest defender. Those aren’t easy minutes either. Seider is playing more than a minute and a half a game shorthanded and starting his shifts in the defensive zone more than 50 per cent of the time, often playing against the opponent’s best competition.
The pair of Seider and Simon Edvinsson has become one of the best shutdown duos in the game, thanks to their dominance in the defensive zone. Heading into Thursday night, and despite starting in the offensive zone together only 32 per cent of the time, the Wings had still generated 576 scoring chances at five-on-five with Seider and Edvinsson on the ice compared to just 482 against. That’s a near plus-100 in more than 563 minutes together. Detroit is also plus-72 in shots with Seider and Edvinsson on the ice and is plus-10 in goals. The Wings have a goals-for percentage of 60 when they are on the ice together. Seider and Edvinsson have delivered all this while being on the ice for the fifth most (208) defensive zone draws this season.
Even though Seider is relied on for major defensive responsibilities, he’s still putting up career offensive numbers. Seider hasn’t scored more than 50 points since he was a rookie, but he’s on pace for more than 55 this season thanks to quarterbacking the sixth-ranked Red Wings power play. He’s also already notched seven goals, so Seider should easily shatter his previous career best of nine.
Seider is not afraid to put his body on the line to keep the puck out of the net as well. He frequently hovers around 200 hits and 200 blocks a year, and he’s trending similarly again this season with 74 and 103, respectively. Seider’s 103 blocks put him fifth in the NHL, and the entire Wings blue line has committed to the craft. Ben Chiarot and Edvinsson also rank in the top-25 league-wide in blocks, as Detroit makes it very difficult to get both pucks and bodies to the net. Plus, even though he plays a very physical style, Seider hasn’t missed a game yet in his career.
Of course, Seider isn’t the only part of the Yzerplan. It’s been a slow build that’s included drafting Lucas Raymond, Edvinsson, Sebastian Cossa, Marco Kasper, Nate Danielson and Axel Sandin-Pellika in the past six years, who all figure to be a big part of the Wings' core for years to come. Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat having great seasons isn’t hurting, either. However, Seider is the one driving the bus, and you could probably count on one hand the number of defenders in the league today you’d rather build a defence around over him.
It's interesting that Yzerman, a huge point producer during his career, has moulded this team around a hard-nosed blueliner and a top defensive pair that appears to be carrying this team back to the post-season. If Detroit gets in this season with Seider leading the charge, there’s a good chance it’s the start of another long run of playoff hockey that includes the Red Wings.
Dylan Guenther, Utah Mammoth
The Pittsburgh Penguins had one of the roughest weekends in recent memory last month. To kick things off, they blew a 5-1 third-period lead to the San Jose Sharks and eventually lost in overtime. Then history repeated itself the following day, when the Pens squandered a 3-0 advantage in the third frame to the Utah Mammoth. Once the game went into overtime, it was as good as over when Dylan Guenther stepped onto the ice. Guenther buried the game-winner off the rush with his patented quick release, something he’s becoming known for in his brief career.
That goal from Guenther was his fifth game-winner this season, which equates to nearly 25 per cent of his total goals (21) on the year. If you think that’s some sort of anomaly, it isn’t. The 22-year-old also had nine game-winning goals last season and is now up to 19 for his career. When you consider that Guenther has 72 total goals since he entered the NHL, then the 19 game winners he’s scored account for 26 per cent of his entire scoring output. That’s an impressive percentage.
Now, game-winning goals can be deceiving sometimes. Let’s say you scored the third goal in a game that was once 5-0, and the opposition ends up scoring a pair to make the final 5-2, you’d ultimately get credit for a game-winner. Guenther, though, often comes through in big moments. That goal against the Penguins was his third overtime winner in 2025-26, tied for the most in the league. He had three overtime winners last season, too.
The Mammoth really need Guenther’s contributions now with Logan Cooley sidelined for the foreseeable future with an injury. Cooley provides Utah with a lot of offence, and they’ll be hoping Guenther can pick up the slack. There were playoff expectations for the Mammoth this season, and currently, they are on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoff picture, but if they don’t get in, it won’t be from lack of trying by Guenther.
Justin Sourdif, Washington Capitals
When the Capitals traded for Justin Sourdif this summer, it didn’t exactly send shockwaves around the league. Washington swung a deal for the former third-round selection back in June, giving up a pair of draft picks in return to the Florida Panthers. Sourdif had only played four NHL games up to that point and tallied one goal, so expectations weren’t very high.
The early returns have been excellent so far, though, as Sourdif has found a home in the top six and given the Caps some major secondary scoring. Sourdif is only on pace for 15 goals this season, but he’s starting show signs of becoming an impact player for Washington. The 23-year-old is coming off a five-point game on Monday, which included a hat trick. That gives him nine points in five games, and it’s brought much more balance to the Capitals forward group.
It's not easy playing a top-six role, as you have to handle big minutes that often come against the opposition’s best competition. Sourdif certainly doesn’t look out of place with these new responsibilities, averaging close to 18 minutes a night this month and playing as much as 20:51 in a game against Chicago last week. The extra ice time hasn’t come at the expense of his responsibilities in his own zone, either. Sourdif is a plus-13 on the year, which ranks him third among all Caps forwards.
If you plan to win a division title and go on a deep playoff run, you’re going to need some unsung heroes to chip in along the way. Sourdif would certainly qualify as that. Washington will now be a much more difficult and balanced team to match up against if Sourdif continues to play this way. When healthy, it will give them three lines that can score and allow them to spread their minutes around more evenly. The Sourdif addition appears to be one of the savviest moves of the off-season and could help pay big dividends for the Capitals this spring.
Fraser Minten, Boston Bruins
Admitting you need to take a step back is a tough thing to do when you’ve been competing for a Stanley Cup for so long, but that’s where the Boston Bruins found themselves last season. A perennial playoff team, the Bruins chose to re-tool at last year’s deadline and reset for 2025-26.
That plan included moving Brandon Carlo for a first-round pick and Fraser Minten. The first-round pick could end up being very good depending on where the Toronto Maple Leafs finish this season, but Minten was key to the deal. Adding Minten also allowed them to flip longtime centre Charlie Coyle for more assets, knowing the newly acquired prospect was going to fill that role. And so far, he’s done an excellent job.
Minten has been getting top six minutes at times and has tallied eight goals and 17 points, good enough for a tie for seventh in team scoring. What’s more impressive? Minten is tied for the team lead in plus/minus at plus-9. It’s rare for someone as young as Minten to be so defensively responsible, and the Bruins look like they’ve found a great two-way centre for years to come. He’s no Patrice Bergeron, obviously, but the fact that a 21-year-old is so trusted in his own end is a great sign for Boston.
That's not to say the Bruins brilliantly reset the course of the franchise with the moves they made last year, though it could be a good blueprint for a number of Eastern Conference teams this season. In addition to Minten, they added James Hagens in the draft last summer and have two more firsts in 2026, while remaining in the playoff mix. With the standings so bunched up, you have to wonder if another team that doesn’t believe it's a true contender looks at what the Bruins did and decides to sell off a few assets as well and regroup for next season. Minten definitely feels like he’s not going to make the Bruins regret their decision.
