Tyler Paul Seguin ( SAY-gihn; born January 31, 1992) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a forward and alternate captain for Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League (NHL).
Growing up in Whitby, Ontario, Seguin began playing hockey in a house league at the age of five or six. During his major junior career with the Plymouth Whalers, he became the first member of the team to win the Red Tilson Trophy as MVP of the Ontario Hockey League since 1998 and tied for that 2009–10 Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy. Following that season, Seguin was selected second overall in the 2010 NHL entry draft by the Boston Bruins and went on to win the 2011 Stanley Cup in his rookie season.
During the 2012–13 NHL lockout, Seguin played for EHC Biel of the Swiss National League A (NLA) and finished the season with 25 goals, the most on the team. Upon returning to the NHL, he played in his second Stanley Cup Final in three seasons before being traded to the Dallas Stars on July 4, 2013.
Seguin was born in Brampton, Ontario in 1992, but his family moved to Whitby when he was young to follow his father's career. His father Paul played college ice hockey for the University of Vermont, where he was roommates with future National Hockey League (NHL) star John LeClair, while his mother Jackie was a centre for the Brampton Canadettes Girls Hockey Association as a child. Tyler and his sisters Candace and Cassidy all played hockey growing up. All three played at centre like their mother, while Paul was a defenceman.
Seguin began playing hockey in a house league at the age of five or six, and developed a love for the sport from a young age. His minor ice hockey career began with the Wildcats of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association, and after moving back to Brampton at the age of 10, Seguin played three seasons with the Toronto Nationals of the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL) alongside future Calder Trophy winner Jeff Skinner. Seguin also spent four years at St. Michael's College School in Toronto. He had his sights set on playing hockey at the University of Michigan, and believed that St. Michael's would be a good stepping stone towards that goal.
The Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) drafted Seguin in the first round, ninth overall, of the 2008 OHL Priority Selection Draft. He chose to join the Whalers rather than attend college as he had originally planned, and began skating on the fourth line in the 2008–09 season. He struggled in his rookie junior ice hockey year, scoring only one goal in the first 17 games of the season. After Mike Vellucci returned to coach the Whalers and moved Seguin to the top two lines, his performance improved, and Seguin finished the season with 67 points in 61 games.
2009–10 proved to be a breakout year for Seguin, who led the league with 14 goals and 25 points in the first 10 games of the season. Eleven of those points came from the first four games of the season, including a hat trick against the London Knights. He finished the season with 106 points (48 goals and 58 assists) in 63 games, and, although the Whalers were swept in the second round of the 2010 playoffs, Seguin became the first member of the team to win the Red Tilson Trophy for most outstanding player in the OHL since David Legwand in 1998. He also tied with Taylor Hall of the Windsor Spitfires for that year's Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy, given to the top scorer in the OHL. At the 2010 CHL Top Prospects Game, Seguin was named the captain for Team Orr, which lost 4–2 to Team Cherry.
Going into the 2010 NHL entry draft, Seguin and Hall were considered the top two available players, with no consensus which one would become the first overall draft pick. Both players were tied for points scoring in the OHL for the previous season, while draft reports tended to emphasize Seguin's speed and Hall's strength. Danny Flynn of Bleacher Report referred to Seguin as an "elite playmaker" who lacked "skill on the defensive end", whereas Hall had proven his "greatness on the big stage", but had "shown a tendency to be selfish at times". Preliminary rankings from the NHL Central Scouting Bureau ranked Seguin the top OHL prospect, and Hall second. Although their positions switched during the midterm rankings, Seguin was named the No. 1 prospect in the bureau's final April rankings. Seguin ended up being selected second overall by the Boston Bruins, while Hall was taken first by the Edmonton Oilers.
Shortly after being drafted, Seguin signed a three-year, $3.75 million entry-level contract with the Bruins, the maximum allowed for a contract of that nature. He made his NHL debut on October 9, 2010, with four shots on goal in a 5–2 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes. He scored his first professional goal the next day, receiving the puck on a pass from teammate Michael Ryder in the third period and scoring on a breakaway backhanded goal against goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov in a 3–0 shutout of the Coyotes.
Seguin participated in the 2011 All-Star festivities during the Rookie Skills Competition. Late in the 2010–11 season, Seguin was quoted as having a desire to model his NHL playing style on that of teammate Patrice Bergeron. After being a healthy scratch for the first two rounds of the 2011 playoffs in the seven game victory against the Montreal Canadiens in the first round and four-game sweep over the Philadelphia Flyers in the second round, Seguin was included in the Boston lineup on the third line with Rich Peverley and Michael Ryder to start the third round, against the Tampa Bay Lightning after centreman Patrice Bergeron sustained a mild concussion in the fourth game of the previous round. In the first game of the series on May 14, 2011, Seguin scored a goal on Lightning' goaltender Dwayne Roloson and added an assist on a Johnny Boychuk goal in his first game of the series, his first career playoff game as the Bruins would go on to be defeated by the Lightning 5–2, then followed that up with two goals and two assists (both assists came on goals by Michael Ryder in a 6–5 win
the following game). He became the first teenager to score four points in a Stanley Cup playoff game since Trevor Linden did so for the Vancouver Canucks in 1989. The Bruins would eventually go on to defeat the Lightning in seven games to clinch their first appearance in the Final since 1990. On June 15, 2011, Boston game seven of the Finals, earning the Stanley Cup with a 4–3 series victory over the Presidents' Trophy-winning Vancouver Canucks. Seguin ended his first playoff run with three goals and four assists for seven points in 13 games.
On November 5, 2011, Seguin scored his first career NHL hat trick against the team that traded the draft pick to the Bruins, the Toronto Maple Leafs. On November 14, Seguin was named NHL's First Star of the Week for his four goals and two assists that helped the Bruins to three wins in the week. On April 22, 2012, Seguin scored in overtime of game six of the first round in the 2012 playoffs series against the seventh-seeded Washington Capitals that sent the series to a game seven. However, despite another goal from Seguin in game seven, the Bruins would go on to lose the game in overtime and were thus eliminated from the playoffs with Capitals' forward Joel Ward scoring the winning goal. He finished his breakout 2011–12 season as the Bruins' leading scorer with 67 points (29 goals, 38 assists) in 81 games along with two goals and one assist for three points in all seven playoff games.
During the 2012–13 NHL lockout, Seguin was one of many Bruins who signed European hockey contracts, striking a deal with the EHC Biel hockey club of the Swiss National League A on September 21, 2012. He made his Swiss League debut on September 30, centreing Ahren Spylo and Eric Beaudoin on the second line and scoring an assist in a 6–3 loss to the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers. Seguin's first goal with the team came three days later, in the first period of his second appearance, a 2–1 win over EV Zug. Less than one month later, on October 24, Seguin recorded his second professional hat trick, and his first NLA hat trick, in a 5–4 shootout win over HC Ambri-Piotta. By November 27, he had accumulated 20 goals in 20 games, the most of any NHL lockout export to the NLA.