Moritz Seider, Andrew Copp, Todd McLellan Media | Oct. 8, 2025

Moritz Seider, Andrew Copp, Todd McLellan Media | Oct. 8, 2025

Have you noticed that he stays out here? Uh he’s super honest. He’s very detailed, uh demanding, isn’t afraid to to speak up. Uh and um it’s exactly what we need right now. We need a little bit of guidance and and structure and he definitely provides us with the provides that with the whole uh with the whole team behind him and um I think we can say we’re definitely really good prepared for hopefully a good start. How much does it help just having had all these practices under him in in camp as opposed to last year when you had to deal so much on the fly with him because of the camera in mid-season? Yeah, it’s great. I mean, we have so much time so we can just pick our pick our whole system apart kind of and and go through it step by step. And um that’s what we did and I I mean I’m really happy we had the time because now I think we’re we’re really detailed. We know what our jobs are. we can trust each other. And um I think that was one of the messages that he sent. Um be aggressive, make make aggressive mistakes knowing that the other guy has your back and um if we do that, I think we’ll we’ll have a lot of success. And what what does the focus need to be here to start the season? I mean, from from the outside, you know, it’s there’s so much are they going to make the playoffs or not, but what what’s the focus in here? The focus in here just really is have a good first shift. I think that’s all that matters. There’s so much preparation going into tomorrow. Um, everyone can talk about the the whole year, but I think if we nail our first shift and then kind of build our game from there, then uh we already won uh a little bit. You and Brad getting the A’s this season. How much pride do you both take in that as being seen and viewed as leaders on this team? It’s it’s a huge honor. Obviously, comes with a little bit of responsibility. I mean, we have great leaders in our locker room and um yeah, very honored, very proud, but I think that necessarily means that from now on we’re the only guys in here. Uh we have a we have a great team behind and um I’m just happy we’re we’re in a locker room with a lot of leadership and kind of have that shared responsibility. And tomorrow obviously opening up, how excited is this group just to get back into a real game competition after a lot of practice, a lot of work? Yeah, everyone is really excited. I think we’ve done everything we we can and uh that was asked for um to be prepared and kind of be excited now and that’s exactly where we at and why we why we’re so happy is just there there’s an end and we can finally start tomorrow. Thanks. Perfect. That game stunk make them anticipating and and skating and being aggressive. So, um just kind of that that freedom and trust and uh not freedom to turn the puck over or anything like that, but the freedom to use my brain, anticipate and um so yeah, I think that was, you know, a huge part of me getting some confidence back and then uh yeah, hopefully we can we can find it right away here. Andrew, looks like, you know, three three new guys making their NHL debuts tomorrow. I’m sure you can looking back appreciate what they’re what you went through your first game. Just how much just excitement uh energy or just that they brought uh these past few weeks here. Yeah, it’s been good. Um you know, some new faces. They’re they’re young, you know, like they’re um just like especially Finn looks like he’s 12, you know, like he’s uh but they’re they’ve been great. They’ve had great all training camps. Um I don’t think anyone on our team feels like they got handed anything. and they all they all deserved it which is um you know a great part of them coming in. I think uh you see some players are kind of handed uh some young players are kind of handed spots and um it definitely feels like they’ve been they’ve earned every ounce and everyone that’s come in through the Detroit I mean Marco had to earn it last year too. So, um, yeah, it’s it’s been good. You know, we’re looking forward to seeing how they, uh, how they are in in the regular season and how we are game after game after game, but I think our whole team’s looking forward to it. Talking around the room, it seems like guys are just anxious to get going again. How excited is this group to just get ready and get going tomorrow? Yeah, I think just real games and um, yeah, eight games is a lot in preseason. Uh, training camp’s always long. I think we’re we’re ready to just um start playing start playing meaningful games night after night. So um we know it’s we got to start fast, especially in the schedule early and a bunch of home games, too. We got to take advantage of those and yeah. So what was Andrew Cap’s first game? Any memorable thing or where was it? Uh it was in Winnipeg. It was the last game of the season. We had we clinched playoffs in game 81. Um, so it was kind of like I just signed out after my Michigan season and got to play the last game of the regular season. Um, I mean, did the lap, did the lap, did the no bucket, uh, buff hit it from me uh, in the locker room. Um, played well, had an assist, we won. All good things. Yeah, there’s a lot of key divisional games early on in the schedule. What What is the biggest key to getting through those unstate basically? I mean, I think we just kind of have to play our game. I think we um you know, there is it is a what is it? Five, I think the first five are all division games and I get some good teams and playoff teams from last year. So, I don’t think there’s any secret recipe other than we got to find our game right away. Um be responsible and and start fast on special teams and whatnot. So, I don’t think there’s any secret recipe. I think we just got to play well. Thanks, Copper. So, Todd, how antsy are you guys to get going here? I think we’re antsy. Um, you know, we should never say this, but I I think the guys are sick and tired of practicing and training camp and everything. They want to they want to get going and we do as well. We um, you know, we need some evidence now. We need, you know, catching them doing things right, catching doing things wrong. Where do we need to take our game? What do we need to work on? and they need to experience the intensity of a of a real game. Um, you know, there’s no doubt about it. You watch the games last night, it it started a little faster, a little harder than any of the exhibition games did uh that we played in. And we just have to remind them of that. Generally speaking, for you guys to be successful, what has to happen? What has to go right? Well, the simple answer is win more than we lose, but it’s never that simple. Um, you know what? We we have talked about this our identity. We need to play with some pace. We need to be a have a hunting mentality. Um I’m not sure that everybody knows what that means, but our guys know what that means. Um our special teams have to polish up. Um you know, again, we’ve answered all these questions, but we’re doing again the power play has to maintain or try and maintain the level it was at last year and have the same impact on games. The penalty kill has to improve. um you know, we’re gonna we believe that we’ll get some good goalending that will uh allow us to play through spells maybe when we’re not playing real well. Um and then on the other side of it, maybe we can score more offensively to help the goalenders and alleviate some of the pressure off of them. So, uh those are the some of the things that have to go well. Um, you can throw in health and and uh streakiness uh trying to to to maintain the good and eliminate the bad, but could really go on and on for a long period. We a lot of things have to go right for us and it’s up to us to make them happen. When uh when you’ve got rookies that are making their NHL debut, do you talk to them about how how different it’s going to be in the regular season and how much the intensity picks up or just kind of what’s the message to them going into their first game? We won’t, we being the staff, there there’ll be some casual conversations, but I I won’t bring all three of them in and say, “Hey guys, it’s going to get going really fast and intense. Uh, but I know that the players around them have reminded them or prepared them for that.” Um, I I don’t want them wound up. They They’re going to have enough nerves and I want them to play a little loose, a little free. Um, you know, their their palms will be sweaty. They they they should be. Mine will be. Uh, but I want them to play free and not overburden them. Along similar lines, I don’t know if I’ve seen you guys do like a rookie lap before. Is that something there’s any plans for with those three or Jeez, that’s half the team. Um, I I don’t know. I don’t know what we, you know, what we would do in that situation. That’s not up to me. That’s that’s a team thing and that’s why they have their group and they can do whatever they want. Uh, I just want to make sure that everybody’s in the right spot when the game starts. And I know the penalty kill has been a big emphasis for you guys throughout camp based on what you saw in preseason and and just repping it in practice. Do you feel like that’s in the place you want it to be as you get started? We’d like to think so. Um but again, you’re you know, exhibition season, you’re not going up against uh 28 29% power play with future Hall of Famers on it that are are really experienced. Um you may get one or two of those pieces, but not all five. Um, you know, Montreal, they’ll have a real good power play. Toronto will have a real good power play. You can go on and on. Um, so we will get tested and and we’re going to make mistakes and we’re going to get scored on. It’s okay. Um, we just got to narrow it down a little bit more and if it doesn’t go well, we can’t just um, you know, we can’t crumble. We got to we got to rebuild it real quick and get back after it. So, um, like to think real positive that everything will go smooth, but it rarely ever does and you got to deal with it. Patrick Kane said the other day, you can’t really worry about making the playoffs in October. Uh, you have to worry about the next game. Do you have a conversation with the room about that? just I mean from a from the outside looking in you know it’s been a long time since this team Yeah. I was I was asked um I think Andrew Cop had mentioned you know playoffs are bust or whatever and there’s nothing wrong with that attitude and I think that’s a great thing. I think that’s an expectation that that we all have tucked away somewhere and what we’re playing for. Uh but that’s that’s a really long-term goal. Um I don’t think our group should be focusing at that uh when it’s 82 games away. We’ve got work in front of us. We should work in small segments right now and try and get our game off and running and then fix it and improve it. And as the year goes on, maybe we can begin to talk about that long-term goal. Uh but we got a lot of work to do right now for that to take care of itself. Just on the subject of Andrew, what appeals to you about putting him with that line? Like what what is what is Andrew when he’s at his best? Andrew Cop you’re talking about? Well, he’s he and and JT are playing with a with a young player. Um they have experience um obviously themselves and with that with their their teams or this team. Uh both are centermen. So JT and and Copper are both centermen. Uh both are really important players and uh we’ve pushed both uh not only last year but we reminded them this year. So, we’re putting them together with a kid and um you know, experience, uh some size, some poise, uh some directness, some some heaviness. We expect all that from those three. Uh but then cop and confer in particular, they could be big penalty kill pieces and we’ve used them a lot in exhibition season in that role and we’ll start with them there and uh if they embrace it, lead it um that would be a real good thing. as a coach, some some coaches use segments and things like that. Do you do anything like that? Obviously, you came in last year and it was on the fly. Now you come in and from ground z from the start. Do you do anything like that when it comes to breaking things down that way or anything? Not necessarily. Uh, hey, you know what? It resets after every five or 10 games because it it it flows into uh one segment flows into the other. I’ll take our seven game win streaks. Last year, things were going really good, but in games six and seven, your game gets a little sick. you may start cheating a bit. Uh yet you’re getting passing grades with uh some of the uh statistical stuff, analytic stuff, but it’ll eventually catch you if you don’t if you’re not aware of it. Um so if you’re completely segmenting um games and then starting over again, it it doesn’t quite work that way. Um I think you can make stats work for or against you any way you want. you know, our our penalty kill might be uh or use power play for example, we may have scored three of our our last 10, but all of a sudden we’ve only scored three in our last 15. The number looks way different. Uh but the simple fact is there was a three there at one point. And you can make again with players or with media or anything, you can use stats for or against your argument any way you want. And then with Montreal coming in, they’ve got a couple of young players, but they got a defense, one defenseman who looks probably career progression wise that maybe something Axel might go through size-wise, moving the puck, things like that. When you look at kind of guys like that and maybe some other examples around the league, where are the things that you kind of look at with Axel and things that maybe he needs to see as the league, as his type of player fits in the league and he grabs his spot? Yeah, there there’s examples of players maybe that Axe is similar to. Um, but I again not overburdening. I’m not sitting down and saying uh if I think you’re referencing Hootson for example there. Hey, you know what? Take a look at this guy. Look at what he’s doing. Uh, we need acts to be acts first. We need him to feel good about what he believes his tools are. And he has to figure out the pace of play and situational play so that he can apply those tools. um we don’t need a whole bunch of of confusion yet. Later on in his career or further down the road, maybe we can introduce a few things that some of the other players are doing, but um let’s just get Axe to settle in and and be axe. Andrew Cobb said that there’s no quote secret recipe for starting the season off right. You face so many divisional opponents right away. How do you feel about facing so many uh stiff competition immediately to start the season? Uh I’m okay with that. Um I think it should put us on our toes. Uh we have to play these teams at some point. Uh if you reference last year, I think it was maybe coming out of the Olympic break or a little bit after it was holy look at who you have to play and how many games it’s going to be and the the gauntlet you have to go through. Well, it happens at some point. Um, you know, we can’t get um overly high or overly low on what might happen throughout the first five, six games. Uh, we have to be aware that, um, you know, there’ll be ups and downs and and if there’s downs, we can’t drag ourselves into the mud and never get out of it. And if there’s highs, we can’t just think we’re going to be parading around in in June, uh, you know, like Florida’s done for the last two years. It doesn’t work that way. you this the early part of the season gets so magnified um wins and losses especially if you’re 0 and2 or one and three or something like that. Well that 0 and two and one and three can happen in December and we don’t even talk about it. Um so we’ve got to be aware of of good and bad and how much it affects us taking us up or down and that’ll be our job to make sure that we’re managing that. And then for you personally, you were with the Red Wings when they won their most recent Stanley Cup. you oversaw some of the great players in this team’s uh history. You’re starting your first full season behind the bench for the Red Wings Centennial season. What does that mean for you personally when you look back and kind of reflect on that? Well, I I I I think anytime you get to be a part of the Redwing organization, it’s special. It doesn’t it’s not just Todd Mlen or anybody else that that this is uh as I said before, an original six franchise. It’s got a hundred years of history. Uh the players that have come and gone and left their mark on the franchise, the city. Uh it’s incredible. Um you know, and and maybe one day we should sit down with the players that are here now and take them through history class because I’m not sure everybody knows uh exactly what’s happened here prior. Um and the uh individuals that have been walking around like we see Lidstrom and Cromwell and uh you know the these types of players come back through the locker room now. Uh but my first go around it was Mr. How, Mr. Dovakio, like these these types of individuals were walking through the locker room and and that was for me really special. um anybody that understood the history to have them walk through and you know Gordy would walk by and he’d throw his elbow out or even seeing Vlatty the other night uh on the big screen. I remember that would happen at our games all the time. They they bring him and he’d watch and he’d be cheering and now to see him 25 years later, 20 years later, it’s incredible. Um so I rambled on. I don’t know if I answered your question, but that’s just how I feel about being a Redwing. It’s special. You touched on this a little bit ago, but the physical component of the game is important, but then there’s also the mental component. How do you coach that or prepare players for that before the mental aspect you’re talking about? Just the grind of the season. Yeah. Well, we we’ve tried to push our group. We’ve tried to um you know, throughout camp, put them in situations maybe where they’re stressed, get them tired, and then ask them to do tasks. Uh we’ve talked about it during the games in in exhibition season when it uh when it hasn’t go gone well. We talked about it just this last game against Toronto. Like we uh uh we took three penalties in succession, shot the puck over the boards twice and it started with a an offensive zone careless penalty. Like we don’t need that. Those are all mental things. Um we gave up two goals in 50 seconds um after coming back against Toronto in the third period. We don’t need that. that just means you didn’t go out and you weren’t prepared. Um, so we’ve talked about it. We’ve stressed it a lot. There’s no there isn’t any magic potion we can throw over the players. They just have to grow up and experience it more. And we, you’ll hear us use the term game management. A lot of that’s between the ears. Daily JVR update. Any closer, you think, or closer? Yeah. Closer. Looking better. Um, you know, certainly he’s not going to play tomorrow. Uh the tomorrow’s Thursday, but we play Saturday. I think that that would be a good option for him on Saturday if everything goes well. Um getting updates from our training staff about him physically, but also updates from our uh sports science department that monitors his workload and and all that type of stuff. And he’s starting to push numbers that are are realistic for for game situations. That kind of stuff. Pretty amazing. everybody. Yeah, it’s uh it is um you talk about 08. We didn’t have that in08 and we found ways to win. So sometimes we have too much technology. Um simplicity is is still part of the game and common sense, but our guys do such a good job and give us so much information that we have to kind of wait our way through it. But it’s helpful. Um for the most part it is. Yeah. Gibson. Gibson’s going to start yet. That isn’t set yet. That could be uh if I told you who it was and we start playing the game and you’re going to call me a liar five minutes in. So, I am I know you. Todd, Montreal is opening up their season today. Uh is there any advantage of them playing tonight and then moving into here to play while you guys are playing your first game? Well, some would say disadvantage because back to back and travel um early in the year, but I do think it’s uh you know, the teams that get a a game underneath their belt, they’ll have a muscle memory and um you know, a a brain memory of of how intense it was, how fast it was. Ours are are going to have to figure it out. And and sometimes tendency is you overplay um in the home opener. You’re trying to do everything and you get nothing done. Uh I hope our group is not like that. I hope they get out and just play. Uh, but I I’ve I can’t tell you in all my years that there has been a common repetitive, hey, this is what’s going to happen. Some nights it’s great, some nights you leave the rink and go like, do we even know how to play the game? Um, it just opening night’s a unique one. Okay, see you tomorrow.

Moritz Seider, Andrew Copp, and Todd McLellan speaks with the media following Detroit’s practice on Wednesday October 8, 2025 at Little Caesars Arena.