Seider will be the Red Wings’ third extra-large German-born defenseman

Detroit Red Wings’ super prospect Moritz Seider will need some time to become the leading German-born scorer in the team’s history.

Most older fans would probably guess defenseman Uwe Krupp currently holds that distinction with six points in 30 games wearing a Detroit sweater. They may not know former Red Wings defenseman Willie Huber (1978-83) was born in Strasskirchen, Germany.  When he was an infant, his family moved to Hamilton, Ontario.

The late Willie Huber was born on this date in 1958. Willie was a 1st round pick of the Wings in '78 & immediately joined their blueline, thus becoming the tallest player at the time to lace 'em up in the NHL. pic.twitter.com/X9GPPRhItg

— O-Pee-Chee Stars (@opeecheestars) January 16, 2018

Huber owned dual citizenship. However, he played for Canada in international competition. Huber had a good scoring touch for a 6-foot-5, 230-pound defenseman. He registered 68 goals and 208 points as a Red Wings player.

“He was really a gentle giant,”  his former Red Wings teammate Jim Rutherford said.

Uwe Krupp was 6-foot-6. Seider, at 6-foot-4, in the trioi.

Red Wings used players from 21 countries

The Red Wings drafted him No. 9 overall in 1978.  “If he was playing today, he would be appreciated a lot more,” said former NHL player Tom Laidlaw. “Because he was so big, everybody expected him to hammer everyone. The reality was he was a skilled player in a big man’s body.”

Huber died in 2010.

If the Red Wings don’t re-sign Valtteri Filppula, they will lose the highest scoring Finnish player in Detroit history.

Here is a look at the Red Wings’ all-time leading scorers by country:

Canada: Gordie Howe 786-1,023-1,809

USA: Reed Larson 188-382-570

Sweden: Nicklas Lidstrom 264-878-1,142

Russia: Sergei Fedorov 400-554-954

Finland: Valtteri Filppula 112-175-287

Czech Republic: Vaclav Nedomansky  108-139-247

Slovakia: Tomas Tatar 115-107-212

Germany: Willie Huber 68-140-208

Czechoslovakia: Ivan Boldirev 67-95-162

Northern Ireland: Jim McFadden 64-78-142

Denmark: Frans Nielsen 48-76-124

Scotland: Adam Brown 58-43-101

Austria: Tomas Vanek 31-43-74

England: Gord Pettinger 21-42-63

Switzerland: Damien Brunner 12-14-26

Belarus: Ruslan Salei 2-8-10

Kazakhstan: Maxim Kuznetsov 2-7-9

Italy: Nelson Debenedet 4-1-5

Lebanon: Ed Hatoum 2-3-5

Slovenia: Jan Mursak 2-2-4

Norway: Anders Myrvold 0-1-1