Steve Yzerman on contract talks with Detroit Red Wings’ Moritz Seider: ‘Not far apart’

Now that he has locked up Lucas Raymond for eight years, will Moritz Seider be far behind?

“We continue to talk,” Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman said Tuesday. “I’m hopeful we can get a deal done at some point – sooner than later would be better for both parties. I don’t think we’re terribly far apart but we’ll hopefully we can progress to get him here as soon as possible.”

The “here” would be ideally be Traverse City, where the Wings are slated to begin training camp Thursday. It’s not the biggest deal if Seider misses that – but the longer it drags out, the more disruptive it will be.

MORE: Detroit Red Wings sign Lucas Raymond to 8-year extension worth more than $8M per year

After signing Raymond for years with an average annual value of $8,075,000 Monday, shortly after signing Jonatan Berggren for one year at $825,000, the Wings have about $8.7 million left in their coffer. It would be huge for them if Seider, 23, agrees to a deal with such a cap hit – the same as that carried by captain Dylan Larkin – since fellow hotshot young defenseman Rasmus Dahlin is getting $11 million annually from the Buffalo Sabres.

Raymond, who signed an eight-year, $64.6 million deal Monday, spent part of his off season training with Seider in Seider’s native Germany.

“Both me and Mo first of all are really, really good friends,” Raymond said. “We’ve kind of gone through this journey together, almost every step of the way. We came into the league together. We’re in the same situation this summer. Of course we talk. I think for us it’s more just nice to get your mind of things, hang out as friends. You talk enough about the contract with agents and people asking. For both of us, it’s just nice to hang out as buddies and work out together. I had a great time in Germany and it was really fun seeing him.”

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, “The Franchise: Detroit Red Wings: A Curated History of the Red Wings,” will be available October 2024. Her books, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” and “The Big 50: The Men and Moments that made the Detroit Red Wings” are available from  Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.