Red Wings Making Gains From Pain

The Detroit Red Wings certainly buy into the no pain, no gain theory of winning hockey. The Red Wings are runaway leaders in the NHL’s most painful statistic.

Detroit leads the league with 1,011 blocked shots. That’s 38 more blocks than the team in second, the Montreal Canadiens. The Wings’ 16.35 blocked shots per 60 minutes is also the best in the NHL.

Detroit defensemen Moritz Seider and Ben Chiarot both rate among the NHL’s top 10 in shot blocking. Montreal (Noah Dobson, Alexandre Carrier) is the only other team with two players in the top 10.

Seider is fifth overall with 139 blocked shots. Chairot ranks ninth, blocking 127 shots. Both Seider (100) and Chiarot (127) are among five NHLers who have already topped the century mark in both shot blocks and hits.

In the 2023-2024 season, Moritz Seider became the 6th player in NHL history to have both 200+ hits & 200+ blocked shots in a season 👀

Seider had 210 hits & 213 blocked shots pic.twitter.com/4O0yb518fp

— Maietta Sports Media (@MaiettaSports) January 17, 2026

“One hundred blocked shots, 100 hits,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “That’s a load to play against.”

Seider’s defense partner, Simon Edvinsson, is 25th in the NHL with 109 blocked shots.

“He’s one of our best shot blockers,” McLellan said. “He’s got such a big body and range that he always seems to get something in the line of the puck.”

Shot Blocking Is All About Courage And Commitment

There’s no great talent required to block a shot. It does require the willingness to accept and absorb the pain that will be coming your way. The reward comes from the accolades of teammates.

“There’s a big rallying cry from teammates when individuals do that,” McLellan said.

Everyone in the NHL last season with at least .4 pts/game, 1.8 blocked shots/game, 53% or better on puck battles:

— Colton Parayko
— MacKenzie Weegar
— Rasmus Andersson
— Alex Pietrangelo
— Moritz Seider
— Simon Edvinsson

Detroit's got a scary top pair. pic.twitter.com/mObVlDMX85

— Big Head Hockey (@bigheadhcky) September 10, 2025

Players are also trading bruises and contusions for the additional satisfaction of frustrating opponents who are unable to get pucks through to the net.

“You do a whole bunch of work, and you finally get your opportunity, and there’s another goaltender on the ice because that person’s willing to block,” McLellan said. “They can become frustrating to play against. So they are, again, they’re very valuable.”

Detroit defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker has 70 blocked shots in just 45 games. That works out to 6.10 blocks per 60 minutes.

“We need that from him,” McLellan said. “That has to be part of his game.”

Albert Johansson (84), Michael Rasmussen (51), Axel Sandin-Pellikka (51), and Andrew Copp (46) are other prominent contributors to this Detroit block party.

Shot Blocking Is A Red Wings Tradition

It’s appropriate that the Wings should be leading the NHL in shot blocks. It was a Detroit defenseman in the 1950s who was the first truly effective shot blocker. Bob Goldham laid himself out in front of more rubber than the asphalt covering I-75.

“Blocking shots is an art, and he was the game’s best practitioner,” former Detroit defenseman Al Arbour once said. Arbour followed in Goldham’s footsteps and was himself considered to be a pre-eminent shot blocker.

“I learned the right way to do it from Bob Goldham,” Arbour said.