Moritz Seider stopped short of defending Dylan Larkin when asked about the boos from Detroit Red Wings fans on opening night.
"It's never something you want to hear," Seider said, per 97.1 The Ticket.
"But as I've said, this is their opportunity to express their feelings," he added, before saying the fans are going to make those feelings known, whatever they are.
In the clip, Seider stands at his stall in a backwards black cap, with his No. 53 nameplate above him and a cluster of microphones in front.
One fan, Danielle, read it as a sign of how the room feels, pointing out that he didn't even defend him.
Seider gave the safest answer available. In a room this tense, safe sounds a lot like distance.
It's a coworker asked about the guy who just handed in his notice. Nobody badmouths him, but nobody's planning the farewell cake either.
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Red Wings fans send a clear message to Dylan Larkin, and Moritz Seider won't defend him
Larkin asked for a trade, naming Florida, Vegas and Minnesota in June, and he wasn't in the lineup for the home opener.
Todd McLellan said he has to live with the ramifications of that request, and fans wore modified jerseys insulting him, per Marqueur.com.
Is he back in the lineup tonight? The station framed the question around his return, but the clip didn't confirm a date.
Simon Edvinsson reportedly prefers a trade too, and Frank Seravalli says Detroit is more open to futures in his case than in a Larkin deal.
Seider is 25 and carries an $8,550,000 cap hit, the biggest on Detroit's blue line.
He has one power-play assist through two games.
The Red Wings are 0-2-0 and host Ottawa tonight.
The Senators come in 2-0-0 after Monday's 4-1 win in Boston, with Tim Stutzle at four points. They played without Jake Sanderson on Monday after he appeared to aggravate an injury Saturday.
The fans made their feelings known once already. If Larkin dresses tonight, the reaction will tell Detroit exactly how much patience is left in that building.
Should Moritz Seider have defended Dylan Larkin publicly?
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