Yesterday was America’s birthday. There were barbecues, patriotic music, fireworks, waving flags…and one very big trade.
Yesterday, the Bruins decided to have their own pyrotechnic display when they traded former 1st round draft pick Tyler Seguin, Rich Peverley, and prospect Ryan Button to the Dallas Stars for Loui Eriksson and three prospects – Joe Morrow, Reilly Smith, and Matt Fraser.
Yea, girl. That’s exactly what I said.
At first, I was confused and perplexed. Did the Bruins really just give up their #2 draft pick and ship him off to the Lone Star State?
During the recent NHL Draft, I had a feeling that something might be brewing. After Bruins’ GM Peter Chiarelli called him out, you could tell that the organization wasn’t feeling Seguin and his utterly disappointing post-season performance.
Chiarelli called into question Seguin’s professionalism and work ethic – but what he was essentially saying is Tyler Seguin needed to stop being Tyler Seguin and start being more like Patrice Bergeron.
But no way did I actually think that the Bruins would trade away one of their most popular players so quickly. I thought for sure that they give him a year to get his ish together, grow up a bit, and then go from there.
okay…so maybe I take that back…
After the initial shock wore off and the eyebrow crinkling ceased, I took to the interwebs to obtain the knowledge I needed to fully understand why something like this might happen.
What I’ve concluded is simple – it’s all about the benjamins.
Seguin is set to begin a six-year, $34.5 million contract next season. Peverley is in the midst of a contract that carries an average annual value of $3.25 million through the end of the 2014-15 season. Eriksson’s contract runs through end of 2015-16 season and has an average annual value of $4.25 million.
You know that WUYS don’t do no math but basically what I’ve been able to deduce using my fingers, toes, and abacus, is that the Bruins will save around $4 million in cap space. With the salary cap decreasing next season, the Bruins needed to reduce salary to re-sign Tuukka and Bergeron, which let’s face it are a more integral part of the team’s success than Seguin. Bruins also are in need of a winger with the departure of Horton and Jagr. With this trade, they now have about $9 million to work with.
Even with addition of the 27 year-old Eriksson, the Bruins are still way light at wing. I’d bet good money they use some of that $9 mil surplus to sign a winger off of the free agent market. Just a few names up for grabs – Ignila, Clarkson, Ryder, Clowe, Cleary. It will just be a matter of finding the best fit, both financially and organizationally. To play on this team, you have to be a certain kind of player.
Now while I understand why something like this happened, it doesn’t mean that particularly thrilled about it. I feel like it is the Joe Thornton Conundrum all over again.
I like Seguin and I think he’s enormously talented, if a bit undisciplined. Maturity takes time to develop. Not all players are Bergeron and Landeskog who come into the league already acting like they’re 30. I kind of have this feeling that Bruins are abandoning Seguin at a time when all he really might need is a swift kick in the ass and a dressing down by Cam Neely. Then maybe he’s wake up and pull it together.
On the other hand, maybe they have given Seguin that dressing down. Maybe they have given him that chance and still nothing changed. As fans, we may never know the truth.
So for now, I wish Seguin the best of luck in Dallas and look forward to the first instagram photo of him wearing a cowboy hat.
Tags: Boston Bruins, Dallas Stars, loui eriksson, Rich Peverley, trades, Tyler Seguin
My first reaction to the trade was not Loui, but I do love having Seguin on the team. Never thought I’d ever see Seguin on the Stars or Loui in another jersey.
Should Seguin win a cup with the Stars, I hope for pictures of him riding a mechanical bull while drunk. One day Stars fans can thank Toronto.
Maybe now Loui will stop being Mr. Underrated and the NHL will pay more attention to him.
Hopefully this is a trade that both teams win.
Don’t forget that time when Seguin overslept and missed a team meeting/breakfast and ended up being a healthy scratch. As much as this might make sense with the numbers, I can’t help but feel Seguin has been pushing the wrong buttons for some time now and they finally got fed up!
I don’t know why I am having such a hard time with this trade. I mean, if anything he’s going to a team where he can excel and really be star (see what I did there?) and stand out instead of being on a team full of outstanding players where he really can’t find the right fit. AND he’s moving to a team closer to my time-zone! Like you said, maybe the claims of off-ice issues are legit, but I am still with Mama Seguin and definitely believe a lot of those stories are some CYA from the Bruins execs to try and quell a fan backlash.
I’m still coming to grips with this. I honestly don’t think it’s gonna hit me til the season starts back up.
Who’s to know what was really going on on-ice and off-ice or how bad it really was. Like Mama Seguin, as Jess put it, I keep coming to his defense. He’s 21, making (at this point) $900,000 with no parents around for the last three years, what do you expect?
As my favorite player, I don’t like what I’ve been reading: about his partying ways interfering with his game, that teammates never really took to him, he’s arrogant, irresponsible. But maybe Boston was too much for him between the bright media spotlight and the pressure of being in a HUGE sports town. Some players can’t deal with it and maybe, sadly, Segs is one of them.
So I’m hoping Dallas will be a fresh start for him. I’m sure he’s no doubt pissed to be traded–he’s got quite the entourage there–but maybe a city with a dimmer spotlight and slower pace will be good for him and his game. Not to mention he’ll be back to playing center with Dallas.
Boston or Dallas, I’ll be watching Segs wherever he’s playing.
I am finally getting caught up on my reading from the holiday weekend so I am commenting late.
I have to say that I am remarkably (maybe surprisingly) okay with this trade. I would have liked to see them hold onto him for another year, but I like the return they got for him, and if he played poorly next year, they wouldn’t have gotten such a good return.
As far as the behind the scenes stuff, we will never really know what happened, but I have a feeling they gave him a lot of chances to get his act together and he didn’t. Going to Dallas may be a serious wakeup call for him. You like playing in the SCF two out of three years? Think the playoffs just happen? Think you can score one goal and it won’t matter because the team will be there next year? Sorry kid, it’s not that easy and it ain’t gonna happen in Dallas – at least not soon.
As far as the typical “21q
Sorry, I have no idea what I just pressed but it posted while I was still typing.
Anyway, I was saying, that regarding typical 21 year old behavior, I call bullsh*t. You have a job, get paid a lot of money, know what the expectations are, are coddled, and you still can’t get it together? Man, I was married, going to school, and working as a 21 year old and never missed a day, meeting, or deadline while still acing my classes. Grow up!