Tyler Seguin hopes for golden year with Dallas Stars
BY CHRIS LOMON
TORONTO – Tyler Seguin is hoping the Dallas Stars upcoming season is just like his 2015 IIHF World Championship experience.
He’s had back-to-back 37-goal campaigns, but only six playoff games (none in 2014-15) since he came to the Lone Star state after his high-profile, multi-player trade from Boston two years ago.
Seguin, one of the game’s biggest offensive threats, who struck gold with Team Canada at this year’s World Championships in Prague, is hoping the stars align for a team eager to get back into the post-season picture.
“With the new acquisitions we’ve got (former Blackhawks Patrick Sharp and Johnny Oduya), I’m definitely excited,” he said, after a morning session at the BioSteel Hockey Camp in Toronto.
And hungry to relive the experience of Stanley Cup glory, something he did in his rookie NHL season in 2011.
Last year, Seguin netted 77 points in 71 games. The 23-year-old missed 10 contests, spread over February and March. He recorded eight goals and 10 assists in 16 games upon his return to action. In 55 games before being sent to the sidelines, the centre notched 29 goals and 59 points, and was one of the league’s leading scorers.
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He carried his strong form to the Czech Republic in May, where he tallied a tournament-best nine goals in 10 games for a Canadian side that took all the spoils after a convincing 6-1 win over Russia in the final.
Seguin’s eager to build on that success, hopeful he and the Stars can get out of the gates quickly in 2015-16, something that didn’t happen last year, as they stumbled to a 4-6-4 record to begin their season.
One glimmer of hope: they ended the year winning seven of 10.
It wasn’t enough, however, as the Stars missed out on the second Western Conference wild card by seven points.
With the influx of new players, and the emergence of captain Jamie Benn (last year’s leading scorer, 87 points) as a bona fide star, the second overall pick from 2010’s draft is optimistic ahead of Dallas’ regular season opener, a home tilt against Pittsburgh.
“Experience goes so far,” said Seguin. “Look at Chicago. They’re a good team and still actually pretty young, but they’ve experienced it all. The guys we’ve brought in are great leaders and (new backstopper Antti) Niemi will help (Kari) Lehtonen.”
Having Seguin shine again certainly won’t hurt the Stars chances.
“It’s been an exciting off-season for me and for the team,” he said. “We’ve added some great players, and hopefully, we can all work together and it will be a big year for us.”
Good as gold? No. 91 certainly hopes so.
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