Seider is a weird prospect for me.
There are times I've seen him and he looks great. There are other times I've seen him and I haven't been impressed at all.
But the weird thing it's hard to pinpoint the cause for the difference. Sometimes you have a kid who struggles against unfamiliar competition and eats up the opponents he is familiar with. Other times you might have a kid who operates on cruise control and steps up against a challenge.
In Seider's case there hasn't always been a clear pattern for the differential in his play. He's performed great in situations where I thought he might struggle, but also struggled in situations where I felt like he should be firmly in the driver's seat.
He's intriguing because he can do things you don't often see from a 6'4 defenseman - he can move, he has complete control of the puck, he can move the puck, he can shoot it, etc. But there's a certain thought process that isn't always there and at times I wonder if his unique combination and athleticism helps him mask certain deficiencies in his game. As a result, he's been one of my biggest challenges to nail down in this draft. I see components that make me think this kid could play on a top pair in the NHL, and then I've seen other instances where I start to question the upside a little.
I will say that when you start getting into the late teens and early 20s, his upside becomes very appealing --- not unlike how a lot of teams viewed Miller last year. And like Miller, there's some talk about him potentially going earlier --- maybe just outside the top 10 or so. But I honestly have no idea what the final result will be. I could see him going just about anywhere outside of the top 8 or 9 picks.
