After his abrupt and somewhat surprising departure from Boston this summer, tonight marks Tyler Seguin’s return to Boston. It’s been four months since the fireworks of the July 4th trade that sent Seguin to Dallas Stars. The pain of that day still stings at times, but like any resilient New Englander, I just have to pick myself up off the floor, drink my iced coffee, and move on with my life.
I can’t lie – it hasn’t been easy. The fangirl in me dies a little bit every time I see him in that Stars’ sweater. It just doesn’t feel right or real to me. Green is SO not his color. He looks MUCH better in black and gold.
But the hockey fan/blogger in me understands full well why things happened the way that they did. In an ideal world, every player I loved would stay with their teams forever, win multiple Stanley Cups & all the trophies, and it would be all rainbows and puppies and adorable babies.
I pride myself of understanding a lot about the sport and about how things work from a management perspective, so I try to be as objective as I can in situations like this. I can’t take it personally. I don’t have to like it, but I have to accept it.
Boston’s depth, while a tremendous asset, stifled Seguin. When you’re playing behind Krecji and Bergeron, it ain’t exactly easy to distinguish yourself. Seguin was a boy amongst men and he wasn’t doing enough to make himself irreplaceable.
In Dallas, Seguin has the opportunity to be the BMOC, and let’s face it, we all know that he’ll relish it like a hot dog. He is playing on the top line with all-star Jamie Benn, while in Boston he was relegated to the 3rd line.
I hope that the trade served as a bit of a wake-up call for Seguin. While we can’t really blame him for the partying and the hijinks he got himself into – I mean the guy is 19 years old, rich, Stanley Cup Champ, hot like fire in a city filled with college girls – the maturity just wasn’t high on the list of priority For a team that needs to win and win NOW, the Bruins just didn’t have time to wait for him to grow up.
Chara ain’t getting any younger and with their 2011 Stanley Cup win and their Finals appearance last year, this Bruins team needs to strike while the iron is hot.
In Seguin, they had a talented player not quite living up to his potential but with an exceptionally high value for a team looking for a young center. What Bruins were desperately lacking was a strong winger to complement their top line centers.
Enter Dallas Stars and Loui Eriksson. Some phone calls were made. A deal was reached and it was so long Seguin and hello Loui.
The season is still young so who knows what the ending will be to this hockey tale. Seguin has 15 points so far with the Stars. Eriksson has only 3.
The season is long and I’m not worried. I think that each team is going to get exactly what they needed.
Tags: Boston Bruins, Dallas Stars, loui eriksson, Tyler Seguin
I have had this date memorized since the schedule came out. The hockey part of me understands why the trade happened, but the fangirl part of me misses that damn smile. Tonight will definitely be bittersweet!
I’m going to the game tonight. Should Seguin score, I don’t think I’ll be the only one giving a little fist pump and a “Woooo!”.
Think of me. I’ll definitely be there in spirit with you, Chuck.
I was there too…Could not believe all the taunting and boos!!!!!! It was like he asked for the trade-definitely reminded me of Kessel. I kept saying that he was going to score at some point because of it. My friend and I were quietly clapping during his shootout goal. And then when people booed Pevs I was so sad. It was like they forgot about him until the shootout. And leave it to the former Bruins to be the ones to score in the shootout anyway!
If anyone boos Ference (which I just can’t see happening) when the Oilers come to town I’m going to flip…
I’m finally over the shock of the trade. I can even name you some Dallas Stars players other than Benn and Peverley. But I so miss the Segs-Bergy-Marchy line.
In one of Segs’ interviews I just saw yesterday, he mentioned he was having dinner with Marchy last night. Man. I would’ve LOVED to have been a fly on the wall during THAT dinner!
I would have to!! Marchy seems so lost without him…