Minnesota Wild: Roster Hopefuls Give Good Effort in Dallas
By Cody Defoe
Nick Seeler
Nick Seeler has had a great preseason to this point, and Monday was not an exception. He was the only player on the team to finish the game with a positive plus/minus, and was not on the ice for any of the 5 goals against.
He and Pateryn did not play a ton of minutes, as Boudreau opted to use those D still fighting for spots more in this matchup, but they were both solid when they were out together.
Seeler is locked in on the 5/6 pairing for Minnesota, and probably should have been used more against Benn to shut him down but I understand why he wasn’t.
Why should Bruce put out his shutdown pairing in a game that doesn’t matter, and allow the opposition a chance to feel them out and find if there are any holes in their game?
Instead, Seeler was used more against the lower lines to allow him to continue his development and shutdown the Dallas hopefuls from being able to make any difference in the game.
I feel like when the regular season starts he will be the type to float quietly under the radar of major media outlets, but should earn a lot more attention from the offensive game planners around the NHL.
His skill set is growing game by game, and he already looks like an NHL veteran as a 25 year old rookie. He is still technically a rookie, as he only played 22 games last year. Don’t be surprised if he is in the talks as best rookie D at the end of the year.