As December rolls on with one game left to play prior to the holiday break on Tuesday against the Dallas Stars, the Detroit Red Wings find themselves with a 21-13-3 record and sitting atop the Atlantic Division with 45 points. An 8-2-1 December record has given fans hope that this will be the year the Red Wings break their nine-year playoff drought. 

The Red Wings are getting great contributions from many of their stars, including Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Patrick Kane and Moritz Seider. The rookies, Emmitt Finnie, Axel Sandin-Pellikka and Nate Danielson have brought an influx of youth and shown that they belong at the National Hockey League level. Not to be lost in all the success 2025-26 has brought to this point is the play of Simon Edvinsson. 

It wasn’t too long ago that Edvinsson was a rookie in the NHL. Edvinsson was selected sixth overall in the 2021 entry draft and is now in the midst of his second full season at the NHL level. Through 34 games played this year, Edvinsson has recorded four goals and eight assists to go along with a plus-six rating. 

In Edvinsson’s first full professional season at the NHL level, the defenseman recorded seven goals and 24 assists, good for second most on the Red Wings amongst defensemen. Edvinsson is on pace to post in the 25-30 point range this campaign.

Becoming a top pairing around the league

Seider is rightfully garnering all the attention for his play in 2025-26, in what is the best start to a season ever for the German blue liner, but some of the credit has to be the switch of the defensive pairing, to have Edvinsson play alongside Seider. 

Since the two young defensemen teamed up, they have played the 17th most minutes of any defensive pairing and have been on the ice for 26 goals for, while giving up only 15. The two are becoming one of the better pairings in the league. 

Since the two became a pairing in early November, the Red Wings have posted a 12-8-3 record, with Edvinsson posting seven of his 12 points. Seider, in that time frame has recorded 21 of his 27 points. 

Earlier in the year, Edvinsson called out his own play after back-to-back losses in October against the Buffalo Sabres and New York Islanders. Edvinsson was minus-four and took three penalties in those two games. “I wasn’t good enough,” Edvinsson said after sitting for much of the third period against the Islanders in a 7-2 loss. 

The 22-year-old responded in the next game, scoring two goals against the St.Louis Blues, showing great poise for a young player who was going through a tough stretch of games for the first time in his young career. 

Subject of trade rumours

The Quinn Hughes trade rumors were running rampant, with the Red Wings being one of the teams speculated to be front-runners in acquiring him due to the Michigan connection. Elliotte Friedman reported early this month about the speculation on what it would have taken to acquire Hughes. 

“I heard that it really didn’t get far; there was something Vancouver wanted…that the Red Wings would not include; I have wondered if that was Simon Edvinsson,” Friedman said. 

Hughes would have been great, but the trajectory Edvinsson is on, and with the way Seider and Edvinsson are gelling, Red Wings fans have a lot to be excited about. It’s not just the points that Edvinsson brings, as the Swedish defenseman is one of six Red Wings skaters to be a positive plus/minus, sits second on the team averaging 21:59 time on ice per game, is fifth on the team with 41 hits and third in blocked shots with 68. 

Edvinsson’s play has been strong for the Red Wings in 2025-26, allowing Seider to get more aggressive with his offensive output, teaming up as quietly one of the better defensive pairings in the NHL.