State Your Case: Dahlin or Seider to build team around

Two all-world defensemen will be in action when the Buffalo Sabres visit the Detroit Red Wings for a nationally televised game at Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; TNT, MAX, truTV, TVAS, FDSNDET).

Rasmus Dahlin is the captain of the Sabres and is having a brilliant season. The 24-year-old has 51 points (11 goals, 40 assists in 55 games. Only three defenseman in the League -- Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche, Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks -- have more points. Dahlin's 0.93 points per game is fourth in the League among defenseman and he plays 24:22 a game, 14th among defensemen.

Seider is one year younger, but already a focal point for the Red Wings in his fourth full season. He has 37 points (six goals 31 assists) in 64 games this season, and plays 25:10 per game, the sixth-highest total in the League, but is incredibly durable. He has played in 310 straight games to begin his career.

Seider scored has one goal in his past 10 games, but he will be needed by the Red Wings down the stretch as they try to fight their way into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Detroit (30-28-6) is four points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card from the Eastern Conference with 18 games to play.

Each is clearly an elite defenseman. But which would you rather have to build a team around? That is the question being debated by Shawn P. Roarke, senior director of editorial, and Dan Rosen, senior writer, in this edition of State Your Case.

Rosen: Let me start this debate by saying there is not a wrong choice between Seider and Dahlin. But the right choice is Seider, and here's why. For starters, he's just over a year younger, 23 now and turning 24 on April 6. Dahlin is 24 and turning 25 on April 13. Minimal difference, yes, but if I'm starting a team and I have to choose between two relatively equal talents on the back end, I'm choosing the younger one. I'll get more years out of him. Secondly, Seider is right-handed shot; Dahlin is a lefty. I want the righty. I don't have a study on this, but top pair right-handed defenseman seem harder to come by. In fact, entering Tuesday, only 19 of the 52 defensemen who have at least 25 points this season are righties. I love Seider's defensive game. His hockey sense and his play anticipation are elite for a young defenseman. He plays 25:10 per game, but I think it would actually benefit Seider if the Red Wings backed off his short-handed ice time (2:06 per game) to get him another shift or two at 5-on-5.

Roarke: I'm not going to walk along the fence here like my opponent. Dahlin is the answer. Age? What does that matter when each player has at least a decade left of his prime. By then, hopefully, you have done your job as the general manager and built around him. In fact, I would take the player with more experience. Dahlin has played 181 more games than Seider and that experience is crucial, especially when it comes to the development of a young defenseman. Dahlin is an elite offensive defenseman. He has a 73-point season on his resume and has scored more than 50 points four times. He scored 44 points in his rookie season, a number Seider has only topped once in his first three seasons. As Dan points out, each player is an elite defenseman. One is more elite and it's Dahlin. New teams need game-breakers and that is what Dahlin has become, plus he's no slouch in his own end.

Rosen: Here's the biggest reason why I'm taking Seider over Dahlin right now -- Dahlin has experienced too much losing in Buffalo. Sorry, but it's a fact. He's the captain of a team that is in a constant cycle of losing. They can't get out of it. He has played well, yes, but I worry that the losing has impacted him in a negative way, and that starting a team with a player who is used to disappointment (he's not disappointing, but he is used to disappointment) is not the best path to success. Seider hasn't made the with the Red Wings either, but it's only three full seasons and they were a tiebreaker away from getting in last season. Yes, the Sabres were one point away from getting in in 2022-23, but they've regressed since. The Red Wings are regressing now, losers of six straight, but they're right in the playoff race again. If we're going to say they're both elite defensemen, both terrific in their own end, both with the ability to drive offense, both highly durable, then I'm going to look at other factors to make my decision. Losing too much is a factor. On top of that, Seider's ability to play a physical game along with a finesse game, to hit and block shots and skate and read the game well are all plusses. Seider is still learning, growing, developing. The question is, who would you start your team with? The answer is the defenseman who has all of Seider's attributes without as much disappointment.

Roarke: Disappointment? Are we talking about disappointment? Is that where you are going with this argument? Dahlin has lost too much, so therefore he is damaged goods? I call bunk. I actually call something much more emphatic, but I checked with the editors and they said it won't see the light of day, so bunk it is. If you spend more than two minutes around Dahlin, you know that he is consumed by a desire to win, a desire to be a difference-maker. He showed it again Tuesday, refuting reports that he has asked out in Buffalo because of the losing. He said he wants to be part of the turnaround there, he wants to lead the way toward better times in the only city he has ever known. He's made an eight-year commitment to the team. That's character, if you ask me. That's the kind of player I want in my dressing room. One that is ready to fight, knowing the odds are long and optimism is in short supply. One that knows it's us-against-the-world and likes those odds. If he can score points like only a handful of other defensemen in the League, if he can play upwards of 25 minutes per game, if he can flash a mean streak, all the better. Dahlin possesses all these traits. I'd like Seider on the team I'm building. I'd be over the moon to have Dahlin.