With Seguin Matchup Looming, Bruins Not Wondering What If
WILMINGTON (CBS) – Honesty can be in rare supply in the Bruins' dressing room, especially when the topic is opposing players.
But forward Milan Lucic can usually be counted on for at least a small dose of truth.
That's why when Lucic was asked to assess who is the better center between Bruins pivot David Krejci and his Dallas counterpart Tyler Seguin on the eve of the first Bruins-Stars tilt of the 2014-15 season, Lucic didn't spew forth propaganda just to make the player he's played with regularly since 2010-11 feel better.
After all, Lucic is an expert on statistics, so he knows you can't ignore what Seguin has accomplished. Seguin has been battling for the NHL lead in goals and points (he has 28 and 52) all season.
"I think it's tough to say," Lucic said about the Seguin-Krejci debate. "I mean [Seguin] was never a center here. So I never really got to see him as a true centerman. I mean watching on TV is one thing, but actually playing with him is another thing. So to answer the question I'd have to go Krech just because I've played with him for so long and I've had so much success with him. But if you're looking at stats right now, it's a pretty easy one to say. But I've had a lot of success with Krech and I mean he shows up at big games. He's led the playoffs twice in scoring, so there's my answer."
Krejci was the NHL leading scorer during the Bruins' run to the 2011 Stanley Cup championship and their run to the 2013 Stanley Cup finals. This season he has 6-15-21 totals in 26 games. He has missed 20 games because of injury. Lucic has 9-15-24 totals in 45 games.
The Bruins clearly could use a game-breaker like Seguin. Any team in any league could use a player that combined speed and skill the way Seguin does. If Lucic is the Bruins' conscience, then obviously the players and even the coaching staff know that the trade that sent Seguin to the Stars for a package of four players, headlined by Loui Eriksson, was a screw up. The Bruins still claim they couldn't fit Seguin at center and that's nonsense. They could've instead found a market for Krejci in a trade. They could've worked more with Seguin to make him a star winger. They did neither. Instead of trying to win with a player that wouldn't thrive at both ends of the rink, they opted to rid themselves of a player who they deemed they couldn't control on or off the ice. They saw a chance to maximize his potential and then got hoodwinked on the package they got in return.
Whether Eriksson was already on a path of deterioration or his two concussions last season transformed him into something less than a top-six forward, the Bruins haven't gotten enough from the Swede to make up for Seguin's loss and probably won't ever have the Eriksson that starred in Dallas for several years. Forward Reilly Smith has shown the skill and savvy to be a regular 20-25 goal scorer for years to come. Defenseman Joe Morrow showed potential in his brief NHL stint this season. Forward Matt Fraser was let go for nothing 17 months after the trade, proving how poorly the Bruins scouted the Stars in the first place. Put them together, they barely make up for half of Seguin's departure.
Unfortunately, general manager Peter Chiarelli can't get the trade back and, like injuries and illness, the players have to march on with what they've been provided by Chiarelli in terms of supporting personnel.
There's nothing the men in the dressing room can do except play like a team, trust their system and attempt to slow players of Seguin's ilk in order to win games. This season has been a struggle for the Bruins to be on the same page with one another in the defensive end and to grind out enough offense to make the rare solid defensive performances count for something. They pride themselves on not being a superstar-driven team, but that means nothing comes easy.
During their nine-game point streak (6-0-3), the Bruins lost three games in a row and looked ready to fall into the abyss. They then reeled off five straight wins before looking disinterested in a loss to Columbus on Saturday. It's so difficult to find consistency when so many players have to play their best on the same night. Superstars tend to make life easier for others when they're not feeling just right or can't get out of a slump. The Bruins' philosophy, though, is that championships can be won without an elite scorer and that scoring by committee will suffice. It worked once, so they believe it'll work again. They measure the Seguin trade more by wins than by goals and points.
"I mean it's not surprising," Bruins coach Claude Julien said about Seguin's emergence as a scoring star. "I don't think it was ever a problem with his potential. At the same, there's probably a good chance he'd be playing on the wing here right now with Krejci and [Patrice] Bergeron as your top two [centers]. But the deal is done and we've moved on. Right now, we're in a playoff spot, that's important. They're still battling for one right now. So we still feel we're in good shape here. We've just got to worry about ourselves."
So far the Bruins have lost the Seguin trade. The only way to win it is by winning a championship before Dallas. Chiarelli believes the Bruins can accomplish that their way. In turn, the players have no choice but to agree. Whether they have the physical capabilities to go with the belief is another story. Anyone that has watched this team this season has to have numerous doubts.
Nonetheless, there's no use in crying over a lost Seguin for the Bruins' players and coaches. There are valuable points available as the stretch run approaches and a playoff spot to secure. They can't be the team they want to be and Krejci can't be a postseason hero again if the Bruins fail to qualify.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.