Seguin/By S. Bradley
BOSTON — The Bruins will not have Tyler Seguin in their lineup tonight against Tampa Bay.
The rookie forward, who was a healthy scratch three times earlier this season, was replaced on the Boston’s fourth line by Daniel Paille, who sat out the Bruins’ previous four games while healthy.
Here are the lines, as per warm-ups:
Lucic-Krejci-Horton
Marchand-Bergeron-Recchi
Peverley-Kelly-Ryder
Paille-Campbell-Thornton
Chara-Boychuk
Seidenberg-Kampfer
Kaberle-McQuaid
As expected, Tim Thomas will start in goal.
Published By mattk Thu. March 3, 2011 6:55 pm EDT
Not one argument has been made saying benching Seguin is hurting the team. Not one.
Benching Seguin is hurting Seguin.
Hall was GIVEN the minutes. GIVEN. He is better then anyone else on Edmonton.
Know what? So is Tyler.
Seguin is on a team that does not need a rookie savior. But benching him and only giving him 5 to 6 minutes of playing time when he is in the line up is a joke.
Marchand played in the AHL. It shows.
I have been watching the games lately and Seguin has been better. Send him back to Juniors if you are not going to play him.
He is lights out better then Paille.
Clod is a joke.
Hall has earned his ice time, as has Thornton. Giving Seguin ice time because you don’t need an enforcer against Detroit isn’t an answer either. Heck even Hall dropped the gloves the other night. Has Seguin even come close? I’m actually not a huge fan of fighting in hockey, but at least it demonstrates a certain toughness, enthusiasm for the rougher aspects for the game, and unwillingness to back down. I’m not seeing any of those in Seguin yet.
I hate to say it but he’s starting to come across to me as Mini-Jumbo Joe Jr. I really hope not, but somehow I expected more out of him by this time in the season. Maybe that was unjustified, but frankly I don’t see Seguin doing as well as Hall even if ice time were equalized.
Hall has a 22-20-42 in 65 games and a +/- of -9 on a team that is among the league’s worst, and has given up 51 more goals than they have scored in that span.
Seguin is 10-11-21 in 59 games and is even on the season on a team that has scored 48 goals more than they’ve given up. Hall is a highlight on a pretty bad team, and he’s playing well in a situation that is much tougher than Seguin’s– being expected to log major minutes and contribute points for a bad team. All Seguin would have to do is just not be a defensive liability and he’d be better than even, accounting for reduced ice time and half as many points as Hall.
In fact, at Even, he’s among the team’s worst for +/-; the only regular players rated lower are Ryder (-1), Savard (-7) and the newcomers, Peverley (-14) and Kelly (-9) who came from other teams. Savard was never healthy this season, and Ryder doesn’t make a good object lesson, offensively or defensively.
Brad Marchand has a 19-16-35 line and is +23. He’s three years older, but this is also his first full NHL season. I think if you’d given those two statistics, without names, before the start of the season, and asked which one would be Marchand and which one would be Seguin, most people would have had them reversed. Maybe Seguin needs what Marchand got– 100 or so games in Providence where he can log minutes, make mistakes, and get up to speed. But if the guy is so fragile that being benched is going to harm his development, I don’t see any other way to do it.
I just don’t see any justification for complaints that benching Seguin is hurting the team or Seguin as a player. I do wonder what Chiarelli would have had to give up in order to trade up to the #1 pick, though.
Paille is a much better fit on a fourth line than Seguin is. It makes me think that Julien has been trying to keep Seguin in the lineup te get some kind of ice time. Tonight easily could have been ‘Hey Tyler go up and keep an eye on #91 in white.’ I’m really hoping to see Seguin fill in on the other three lines, if I was Claude I would be sitting other guys telling them they deserve a rest before the playoffs. That might be better than sitting Ryder just because he takes nights off.
david, hall played every other shift for edmonton and has had a ton of stability in terms of where he’s played. seguin on the other hand has been screwed around all year long with lines and posistions. now he is playing fourth line? talk about a square peg in a round hole. let him play. playing thornton against teams like tampa bay and detroit that don’t even dress fighters is useless. i like the guy and he works hard but he has a role and many nights that role isn’t needed.
Seguin is playing well? What games have you been watching? In terms of how close each is playing to their potential, Seguin is playing far below his ability and still making lazy and incorrect decisions. Watching Hall play for Edmonton really underscored that– plus, the other lost forwards scored: Horton, Ryder, and the newcomer Peverley. Seguin might be playing a tiny bit better than Paille, but a lot more is expected of him than that, and that’s the message Julien is trying to get through to him.
Thornton has been much more than an enforcer this season. You don’t sit one of the hardest working guys on the team– doing so won’t help reinforce the message that you have to play smart as well as hard to earn minutes.
They didn’t miss Seguin a bit in tonight’s game. He ought to be thinking of that next shift he plays.
I agree with Eric, why is it when Seguin is playing well, Paille gets his chance at the expense of Seguin? Ryder especially should be on that list of bubble players, I understand Julien rewards things that we don’t always see on the stat sheet, and he probably wants to let the new line gel, but what if that spark is Seguin? And lets repeat, Seguin was playing well and Julien talks the talk of rewarding that. I just don’t get him
Seguin has played pretty well since his last healthy scratches. He is playing much better than Paille did tonight, he was terrible. Ever thought about sitting Ryder for a game or two? He scores one game then disappears for 10 games.
I just had a thought watching Stamkos and remembered how a lot of people have tried to compare Seguins style to Stamkos’. Maybe they wanted him in the press box to get an up close look at Stamkos. I don’t think he had been playing bad or anything. Could be just to keep Paille fresh too.
this is lame. paille is horrible. but if they insist on dressing paille from time to time why is it out of the question to sit thornton? i like thornton a lot but it shouldn’t be out of bounds to sit an enforcer here and there.