3.
From the point he was drafted until the beginning of the 2010-2011
Nhlseason Tyler Seguin was the talk of the Boston Bruins. Already a team that could be considered one of the best in the Eastern Conference, the Bruins were given a chance to improve there future – likely drastically – with the 2nd overall pick at the 2010 draft.
In fact ESPN.com published an article in February of 2010 saying that Seguin along with other junior players who would appear in that summers draft had the potential to be franchise players. Now every single Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs
fan knows that the Bruins acquired the Leafs first round draft pick in 2010 (along with other picks) in a trade that sent snipe
Phil Kessel to Toronto in the late summer/early fall of 2009. And of course that pick turned out to be Seguin, who tied for the Ontario Hockey League scoring title in 2009-2010 with rival junior hockey star Taylor Hall. Fast forwarding now nearly a year and a half later. Seguin finished his rookie season in Boston tallying 11 goals and 22 points while playing the majority of the season on the Bruins third line and earning some opportunity on the teams second powerplay unit. And while Seguin had his high points this past season he was far from the team’s best rookie. Brad Marchand takes home those honors. While he was drafted four years prior to Seguin and is thus four years older, Marchand played in his rookie season with the Bruins this past season and as early as January he already had media around the Bruins organization questioning whether Seguin was the team’s best rookie. On January 20th NESN.com wrote that Marchand could be the teams most exciting player who has wowed the TD Garden crowd with his hustle and toughness. At that point in the season Marchand had 20 points – four more than Seguin – and was a plus 17 rating.
“Once I knew I was playing that first game this year, I was very happy,”(
wealthmass) Marchand told the Patriot Ledger earlier in the season. “I knew if I had a good game, there was an opportunity to stay in the lineup, and that’s all I wanted to do. I wanted to prove I should be in the lineup, and it gave me extra motivation to do well.”