Conclusion to this madness
The Boston Bruins avoid hand-cuffing themselves to David Backes and David Krejci, as well as retaining Tyler Seguin at a cheaper price than he wound up being with Dallas. But there’s no saying he would have extended his contract with Boston. He could’ve wound up leaving in free agency and earning big money elsewhere.
Besides, based on projections, he would end up producing the same as Krejci anyways, give or take. He became a star in Dallas because he was given the proper amount of minutes to thrive, but in Boston, he would simply be a solid second-line center.
There’s also something else to look at. Would the Bruins have made the same moves had they kept Seguin? While I did this in my own scenario, it’s likely they would not have.
They may have gone out and signed someone other than Backes in that crop of free agents in the 2016 off-season that could’ve also been a bad deal. There’s a ton of different scenario’s that may have played out if the infamous trade never happened.
Another thing, do they draft the same way? Do they bring in McAvoy? How about not drafting Jake DeBrusk? Not re-signing Marchand? Trading away David Pastrnak?
There are just so many different things that could have happened and left the Bruins worse for wear if they did keep Seguin.
At the same time, however, they could have been even better. Maybe they beat the St. Louis Blues in the Stanley Cup finals this past season with Seguin on board.
Salaries via Capfriendly, 2014-15 cap space info via Spotrac.