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Tyler Seguin gets his chance to play center while Marc Savard is out

Tyler Seguin

Boston Bruins’ Tyler Seguin, the second overall pick in the 2010 draft, skates with the puck during training camp in Boston Saturday, Sept. 18, 2010. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

AP

With every bad turn, something good must come from it. In Boston, with Marc Savard sidelined dealing with post-concussion-like symptoms, this offers the opportunity for the team’s other talented centers to step up and prove their worth in camp. For 2010 first round pick Tyler Seguin, it offers him the chance to show the Bruins his worth as a center.

With the overabundance of talent up the middle for the Bruins, the plan with Seguin was to have him play the wing in camp and see if he could work his way into the lineup like that. Now, he’ll get a chance to play center in camp and show what he can do from his natural position, an opportunity he’s got to take advantage of.

The 18-year-old is expected to continue to play centre while Savard is out, which means more responsibility and an onus to take care of the defensive end without sacrificing too much on offence. Seguin scored 106 points last season with Plymouth of the Ontario Hockey League.

“I think it starts with adapting,” Seguin said Sunday, after he skated for a second straight day on a line with veteran Mark Recchi and second-year pro Jeff LoVecchio.

“You find your comfort zone,” Seguin said. “You’ve got to go into the NHL or any new league with confidence, know your game, and play it, and learn all the little things as you go.”

While Seguin is not guaranteed to make the NHL team, it’s widely expected he will make the jump from the junior ranks. If he doesn’t make the Bruins’ roster, he has to return to Plymouth.

Ideally, drafting Seguin was seen as a luxury for the Bruins. After getting the second overall pick from the Maple Leafs in the Phil Kessel trade, and the Bruins being a playoff team, they don’t necessarily have to bring him to the NHL right away. With the buzz building around Boston over Seguin and the rest of the team, the pressure is on to see Seguin perform similarly to recent top picks in the draft like Steven Stamkos and John Tavares.

While it’s possible that Seguin could go back to the OHL and play for Plymouth for one more season, it’s clear that the Bruins want to get the most out of Seguin right away. Whether or not head coach Claude Julien will have the patience to deal with an offensive-minded 18 year-old remains to be seen. With Marc Savard out for an undetermined amount of time, this is Seguin’s chance to really show Julien and the rest of Boston what he’s got.