By the Numbers Prospects: Seth Barton

By the Numbers will highlight the on-ice accomplishments in the 2018-19 season for the Detroit Red Wings' prospects. Twice a week during the offseason, By the Numbers will profile a different player in the system, focusing on his statistical highs. This week we focus on defenseman Seth Barton.

If there is one player among the Detroit Red Wings blueline prospects that may have gone under the radar a bit but bears watching, it is Seth Barton.
Barton was the Wings' third-round pick, 81st overall, in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. That pick came from Philadelphia in the trade that sent Petr Mrazek to the Flyers in 2017-18.
At the time, Barton was a skinny, 6-foot-3, 179-pound defenseman who had already committed to attending college at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.
Barton knew that he was going to need a little extra time to develop physically and would also be able to hone his game at the college level.
After one season, Barton is now listed at 185 pounds so the physical part is coming along nicely.
The UMass-Lowell River Hawks had some injury problems, forcing Barton into a bigger role, which turned out to be a great thing for his hockey development.
Scholastically, Barton also did well, earning a spot on Hockey East's All-Academic Team, one of 29 River Hawks and one of 12 freshmen to do so.
Given more time to gain strength and increase his role as he advances in his college hockey career, Barton could one day contend for a spot on Detroit's blueline.
33 -- Barton played in 33 games for the UMass-Lowell River Hawks in his freshman season, fewer than the 49 games he played for the BCHL's Trail Smoke Eaters in the 2017-18 season.

1 -- On Dec. 7 at Boston University, Barton recorded his first goal as a River Hawk, the game-winner in the 5-3 victory. Barton played against fellow Wings prospect Kasper Kotkansalo in that contest and Kotkansalo had an assist.
2 -- Barton had two goals his freshman year with his second coming on the power play on Dec. 29, the lone goal in a 4-1 loss to Denver. Fellow Wings prospect Filip Larsson was the winning goaltender in that game. Barton had a season-high two assists twice, the first time in his second career game against RIT on Oct. 13 and the second time against New Hampshire on Nov. 9.
8 -- The lanky defenseman had eight assists, tied with Connor Wilson for seventh on the River Hawks. Connor Sodergren and Mattias Goransson tied for first with 16 assists apiece.
4 -- On March 8 at Vermont, Barton had a season-high four shots in the 2-2 tie. On Nov. 16 at Connecticut, Barton had a season-best four blocked shots in the 5-2 win.
6 -- Barton was fifth on UMass-Lowell in plus-minus at plus-6. Sodergren was first at plus-13.
25 -- Despite it being his first year, Barton had just 25 penalty minutes, seventh on the River Hawks. Defenseman Anthony Baxter led the team with 41 penalty minutes.
Quotable: "Seth is a guy that we didn't know too much about as a development staff last year. He came in and he impressed obviously in camp. He was just a small, scrawny kid but had good vision, moved the puck well, and then thanks to injury, got thrust into a bigger role in college and did very well. We were really happy with his year last year. He's another kid though that just needs to put strength on. It's going to take time. He's in that process and he's doing well." -- Shawn Horcoff, Red Wings director of player development
Quotable II: "Moving up into the American League or the NHL, everything is about consistency, being able to play 82 games. College to the pro level, there's a big difference there in games. Just playing every game, consistently playing every game hard, because like (Horcoff) and (Dan Cleary, player development assistant) have been saying, every time you get a chance to play, you have to make the most of it because you never know when your next shot will come." -- Seth Barton