Boston Bruins: What if Tyler Seguin was never traded?

CHICAGO, IL - JUNE 22: Tyler Seguin #19 of the Boston Bruins plays against the Chicago Blackhawks in Game Five of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final at the United Center on June 22, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)
CHICAGO, IL - JUNE 22: Tyler Seguin #19 of the Boston Bruins plays against the Chicago Blackhawks in Game Five of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final at the United Center on June 22, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)
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BOSTON, MA - FEBRUARY 10: Tyler Seguin #91 of the Dallas Stars prepares to face off against Patrice Bergeron #37 of the Boston Bruins during the second period at TD Garden on February 10, 2015 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Stars defeat the Bruins 5-3. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA – FEBRUARY 10: Tyler Seguin #91 of the Dallas Stars prepares to face off against Patrice Bergeron #37 of the Boston Bruins during the second period at TD Garden on February 10, 2015 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Stars defeat the Bruins 5-3. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Tyler Seguin’s future with the Boston Bruins

The Bruins extended Seguin the year before they traded him. That was a 6-year deal worth $5.75M per season. It’s important to note that, despite playing wing with the Boston Bruins, he has found his success as a center in Dallas.

If Seguin were to shift to center, he would likely replace David Krejci, who would’ve had one year left on his deal starting the 2014-15 season. That would mean Seguin would play one last season on the second-line, left-wing spot, averaging the same time as Eriksson in his 2014-15 season, which was 18:29 time on ice.

With Tyler Seguin averaging 19:33 in his second year with Dallas, he would experience a 5.5% decrease in deployment. If he played the same amount of games in Boston as he did in Dallas (71), where he put up 77 points, he would instead produce 72 points, yet again. With Seguin’s versatility, it’s likely he would shift to second-line center and Krejci would either be traded or walk in free agency, rather than signing a 6-year deal worth 7.25M to stay in Boston.

If Seguin played the same minutes as Krejci up until 2018, when he got extended by Dallas, he would have had roughly these point totals, based on points per game and deployment changes: 78, 71, and 68 points, respectively. In total, over the last 3 years before his contract extension, Seguin totalled a projected 217 points as a Boston Bruins’ player.

In Dallas, those same three years, he produced 223 points. What this means is he produced a projected 6 points less playing as the second-line center in Boston compared to his actual stats in Dallas, as a first-line center.

Due to a smaller role, despite a similar production rate, Seguin would not have been handed the same 8 year, $9.85M contract. Due to being below Patrice Bergeron on the line-up in this ‘what if’ situation, he likely wouldn’t earn too much more than Bergeron’s $6.875M per season deal.