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Blizzards are fun. But when you get sick of shoveling -- both snow and junk food -- and run out of things on Netflix (watching Tommy Boy for the 359th time since it came out is a tough sell, even when you’re as bored as I am), you’re sorta just left with some thoughts. And with a sans meaningful hockey weekend, they pile up.
Let’s jump in like it's a Boston snowbank.
Tyler Seguin: Bruins 100 percent gave up on me too soon
The Players’ Tribune has become a must-read for sports fans. Finally, there’s a place where you can read a player’s thoughts on this or that without boring cliches or a thousand ‘just out there doing my best’. Last weekend, they gave the space to
Tyler Seguin, a player that spent the first three seasons of his career with the Boston Bruins before a controversial trade landed the former No. 2 overall pick in Dallas.
In his article, the 22-year-old superstar was as honest as he could be. He talked about his upbringing, winning the Stanley Cup in his first season, and of course, his much discussion exit from the Hub.
From
the Players' Tribune:
I admit that there were probably some decisions I could have made better, but I also highly doubt that anyone would endorse every choice they made in their late teens. It’s part of growing up. I was living on my own for the first time and was the only single guy on the team. On off-nights, when the other guys would go home to their wives and families, I would go out. But none of my behavior was ever malicious, and it certainly didn’t affect my play on the ice. The suggestion that it did always bothered me because I fulfilled every role that the Bruins asked of me, whether it was leading the team in scoring as a center or serving as a winger on the third line.
In the aftermath of getting traded, I was asked by a lot of media for a response. For the most part, I kept my mouth shut. I was certainly frustrated at being written off as a lost cause at the age of 20, but there’s just not much good that comes from an athlete expressing themselves to the media while they’re angry. I decided to let my play on the ice with Dallas speak for itself.
Now that it’s all completely in the past, I can give you my honest answer. Do I think the Bruins gave up on me too early? Yes, I 100 percent believe that.
Hindsight is 20/20, and I think most have come to terms with the fact that it’d be nice to have that speed and skill on their top line, but Seguin’s undeniably right in one regard-- his play in Dallas speaks for itself.
In just 126 games with the Stars, Seguin has tallied 65 goals and 136 points in 126 games. The Brampton, Ont. native had 56 goals and 121 points in 203 games for the Bruins. Obviously, Seguin playing his natural position (center) has helped his game thrive, but it seems that this trade will become a bust for Boston.
Loui Eriksson and Reilly Smith, the two big returns in the trade, are nice pieces, but they’ll never the point-per-game superstar that Seguin has turned into down in Dallas. At the same time, however, I don’t think that Seguin would have ever hit this potential playing on the wing in Boston, or surrounding himself with the cast he chose to during his three-year tenure with the club. Still, at his worst, the Bruins could have had a 25-35 goal scorer on their top-line with a reasonable cap-hit versus one year of Jarome Iginla.
Like I said, hindsight...
Soderberg wants 3-5 year contract
In a
Swedish interview, Boston third-line center
Carl Soderberg dished on life in Boston with the Bruins, the NHL, and his future in this league. Roughly translated, mind you, but here are some takeaways.
Soderberg would like his next NHL contract to be for 3-5 years. He really likes the New England Patriots. He thinks that the Americans on the Bruins are more outward. And he says that coming to the Bruins back in 2013, therefore burning a bridge that kept him off Team Sweden at the 2014 Winter Olympics, was worth it.
A three-year contract to keep Soderberg in the Hub seems nice, but it also sounds like a pipedream, really. In just his second full season in the league, the 29-year-old has 10 goals and 31 points (second on the team and just one behind Patrice Bergeron for the team lead) in just 48 games played, and is paced for a 53-point year.
In a majorly thin center market, Soderberg could get
paaaid.
Behind Soderberg, the next best option for any club would be
Antoine Vermette,
Olli Jokinen,
Mike Fisher, or
Brad Richards. If you’re talking about purely offensive centermen, Soderberg will be your guy, and I don’t think the Bruins will be able to match the other offers.
Would Soderberg take a discount to take in Boston? Maybe, but he’ll be 30 soon, and this is probably his only chance at a major NHL pay-day, especially if he wants a contract in the three to five year range, so you wouldn’t think that he’d be content with a long-term deal that comes with a bridge-deal-esque cap-hit.
What to do with Loui Eriksson
Here’s another interesting question that comes from a potential Soderberg departure-- what becomes of winger
Loui Eriksson? You’d probably figure that
David Pastrnak is the long-term fit on the Bruins’ top line with
David Krejci and
Milan Lucic. Winger
Reilly Smith has fit in nicely with Bergeron and Brad Marchand on the second line. So where does that put Eriksson and his $4.25 million cap-hit? On the third line again? The Black and Gold would almost certainly hope not.
Assuming Soderberg walks this upcoming July, given Smith’s regression/struggles/whatever you wanna call it, there’s a chance that the Bruins could look to put Eriksson back with Bergeron and Marchand. But that trio was from the shutdown/two-way weapon that the Bruins had initially hoped for, and really failed to gel.
Maybe another camp could bring it back to life, but that’s one expensive leap of faith for the B’s.
Still, I think there’s a home for Eriksson with the Bruins. You’ve seen far more of the Eriksson that wowed the Bruins enough to trade for him back in 2013 as of late, and if they could somehow find a way for No. 21 to channel that on a consistent basis, the thought of trading him becomes an instant non-starter for the Bruins. But the Swedish winger’s inability to find chemistry with any center besides the guy that’s likely gone after this season makes everything a whole lot harder for a cap-crunching Boston front office.
Hamilton, Krug, and Smith
The Bruins are gonna keep these guys. I think that much is obvious. But the final price to keep the trio in the Hub, however, remains a mystery to most. I still believe that you’ll see the Bruins ‘overpay’
Dougie Hamilton on a long-term deal to hang onto his RFA rights. And though I think that the Bruins will reward both Krug and Smith for their willingness to take ‘cheap’ one-year deals, there’s no doubt that Smith has seemingly hurt his value with some lengthy cold streaks, whereas Krug’s value has shot up with the puck-mover on pace for yet another 40-point season on the Bruins’ third defensive pairing.
You’ll have to think that Hamilton will come in somewhere between $4.5 and 5.5 million per season. Krug somewhere around $2 to $2.75 million. And Smith anywhere from $2.5 to 3 million. So, adding it all up, what’s the best case scenario for the three? A combined $10 million? Probably.
With the cap expected to jump up another $3 million or so, and with the Iginla bonus overages off the books, the B’s will have a bit more wiggle room, but it’s going to be yet another tight summertime squeeze.
Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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