Seguin/By S. Bradley
There seems to be no ceiling on the expectations readers of TheBruinsBlog.net have for Bruins forward Tyler Seguin.
Entering his sophomore season after scoring 22 points (11 goals) in 74 regular-season games as a rookie, the public wants to see what Seguin can do skating next to Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron.
Who should replace Mark Recchi on the Bergeron Line?
- Tyler Seguin (52%, 182 Votes)
- Rich Peverley (27%, 95 Votes)
- Jordan Caron (18%, 62 Votes)
- Someone else (write in comments section) (3%, 9 Votes)
Total Voters: 348
Loading ...Seguin won the vote in overwhelming fashion, nearly doubling his closest challenger Rich Peverley’s vote total.
Unfortunately, at least to start the 2011-12 campaign, readers are probably going to be disappointed. There are two things working against Seguin filling the right-wing spot on Bergeron’s line vacated by Mark Recchi’s retirement.
One, the Bruins’ best bet is to start playing Seguin at center on a regular basis in an effort to get him to blossom into the all-around talent they believe he can be. Two, with the Bergeron line receiving a large amount of ice time in defensive situations, there’s no way head coach Claude Julien is going to trust a teenager to fill that spot based on one full season and an exhibition schedule.
Peverley is probably the early favorite to win that job, which he held for short stints after he joined Boston last season. While Peverley is only an average defender at best, he’s shown a willingness to be responsible and his faceoff aptitude could take some heat off of Bergeron.
Down the road, Caron would project to be the type of player that could be a perfect fit in this type of role. But coming off just one pro season, which was spent mostly in the American Hockey League, Caron is going to have to go above and beyond just to make the team. So a spot in Boston’s top six is unlikely to be his right off the bat.
Going back to Seguin, the Bruins’ depth up front is such that he can play his natural center position now and have plenty of back-up on his wings from guys, especially Peverley and Chris Kelly, who have played plenty of center in their careers. In Kelly’s case, as a left-handed shot, he could help out the right-handed Seguin by splitting the faceoffs. And whatever combination of Peverley, Kelly or Daniel Paille fills the wings next to Seguin can hold their own in the defensive zone and tutor Seguin.
In fact, if I was going to play Seguin on wing this season, I might experiment with him on David Krejci’s line, with either Milan Lucic or Nathan Horton dropping onto Bergeron’s line. While he would still have plenty of defensive responsibility on his plate, Seguin would have an even better chance to explode offensively with Krejci setting him up. He could also build a chemistry with Krejci that could carry over to the power play.
It’s a bit risky to break up the chemistry Krejci’s line enjoyed last season, but things could also get stale after around 100 games together.
So on this point, I disagree with my readers about Seguin filling Recchi’s spot this season. However, you can expect to see a lot of different combinations in training camp and when the exhibition schedule starts as Julien tries to figure out how to make up for the loss of Recchi and Michael Ryder, and get his team’s juices flowing early on in its defense of the Stanley Cup title.
seguin will slide into the so called ‘third’ line center slot. you guys have to remember how claude works. he runs 4 lines equally and he line matches. Bergy against opponents top threat, khl against 1st or 2nd line depending on bergy’s assignment, third line v third line and 4 v 4. this will allow seguin to flourish a la krejci/ryder/wheeler line 3 years ago that played against 3rd lines every night and lit it up all season.
also no credit for peverly? wake up, he is money in the bank and will put up 60 pts this year.
Bruins 16,
right on! Fortunately if We have learned something since Julien came to Boston it’s that he can teach 2-way play to stars (see savard, krecji who have booth improved greatly) I bet Caron sees more time than pouloit on the 2nd line if Seguin doesn’t end up there. When mentioned, I actually like the idea of putting Seguin on a checking line to give him the idea that this is what he HAS to do to succeed.
I completely agree with putting Seguin on the PP. I think his pros are well suited to production on the PP.
There is a huge part of me that would like to see what Seguin could do with Krejci and even if they don’t break up the KHL line, I hope they will try him on a PP unit with Krejci.
I am still not convinced Seguin is best suited for the kind of role the Bergeron line is used for. I just don’t think that is his game .
I think the team has some good talent, but Julien is really going to have to fool around some with line combos to get just the right mix.
Not to mention the possibility of injury. No team goes a whole season without any injuries. Seguin may find some real opportunities to shine in the top 6 if/when injuries occur.
Seguin needs to get time on the PP.
Smaha
I like your second combination, but replace Pouliot with Caron. Caron is better defensively and the Bruins won the Cup with defense more than offense. For those of you concerned that Seguin may play centre on the third line, I think Julien will also put him on the second PP unit. I like it when Julien put Bergeron on the point, with the first PP unit. If he continues with this, it should open up a spot for Seguin on the second unit. Julien is a team first guy. Players who don’t play defense, don’t play in Boston. If Seguin wants more time, then he needs to make sure of his defense.
I agree 100% with the assessment of the pros and cons of various situations, but disagree with the player combo suggestions that result. Seguin needs as much stability, talent and veteran support around him as possible in Year #2, which in my opinion means no to the 4th line, no to Marchand on the opposing wing and no to the unproven Pouliot. Any other combo would be fine for his development, with the exception of putting Horton in a defense-first role on the second line.
Therefore, with ALL factors accounted for, if Seguin plays wing:
Marchand-Krejci-Horton
Lucic-Bergeron-Seguin
Pouliot-Kelly-Peverly
Thornton-Campbell-Paille
And if Seguin plays center:
Lucic-Krejci-Horton
Marchand-Bergeron-Pouliot
Kelly-Seguin-Peverly
Thornton-Campbell-Paille
Playing this kid with the likes of Kelly, Paille, and even Peverly will do nothing for his development, which I will submit is as big an interest to this team as as it is to him. The problem is he isn’t a third liner, that isn’t his game, but he doesn’t fit great with the Bergeron line and I doubt they break up the Krejci line. It will be interesting anyway.
Playing with Bergeron would also allow Seguin to observe and learn many of Bergy’s skills, which happen to be his own weaknesses right now: face-offs, two-way play, defense, grit
The stipulation I make is that I would like to see him play on a line with other talented playmaking/scoring type players. If that’s a pouloit/seguin/caron 3rd line, then fine, but I think he would have had more points in the playoffs (namely assists) if he were with better scorers just based on the passes he made. He may have had more goals playing with bergey or krecji as well, so when he earns it, I’d love to see him paired up with skill.
I mostly agree.
A part of me would like to see Seguin in the top 6, but I tend to think that right wing spot is going to be Peverly’s to lose come camp and I think Peverly may very well be a good fit there. I do think that Seguin will likely see some time there as well as some others. I think the coaches are going to try several combinations on that line at the beginning of the season, but I mostly think the job is Peverly’s if he does well at camp. I also think Seguin is too weak defensively to fill the role on the Bergeron line at this point in his development. Bergeron’s line is used in a shutdown capacity and Seguin to me seems more like the guy who is going to be on your main scoring line by the time he peaks.
I suspect the team is going to look to have Seguin center the third line. Seguin isn’t spectacular at all when it comes to defense, but I think he tends to play more comfortably when playing at center.
I don’t think that I voted in this poll, but I think that the 4th paragraph of this post pretty much sums up the Seguin notion in a nutshell.