Not too long ago, people in the United States of America celebrated their 241st year of independence from British rule with traditional firework displays. Four years ago, on July 4, 2013, the Boston Bruins made fireworks of their own that the entire NHL hockey community saw. It was on the previously mentioned date that superstar forward Tyler Seguin was traded to the Dallas Stars. As we all know, the trade was not well received by the Bruins faithful.
For those coming casually late to the party, Seguin was traded along with Rich Peverley and Ryan Button in exchange for Loui Eriksson, Joe Morrow, Reilly Smith and Matt Fraser.
Bruins’ Slowly Falling Dominoes
One by one, the players the Bruins acquired in the Seguin deal fell. The first player to move off the Bruins’ roster was Fraser. After playing in 38 games for the Bruins over the course of two seasons, he was claimed off the waiver wire by the Edmonton Oilers during the 2014-15 season. On July 1, 2015, Smith was traded away to the Florida Panthers after a mediocre sophomore campaign. In return, Jimmy Hayes was brought to the Bruins, leaving two players from the Seguin trade with the club.
One year after the Smith-Hayes trade, Eriksson took off to sign with the Vancouver Canucks when he inked a six-year $36 million contract. As the big piece in the Seguin deal, Eriksson was mostly underwhelming in his three years as a Bruin, despite his 30-goal effort during the 2015-16 season.
The fourth and final domino fell when the Bruins elected to let Morrow go to free agency this year. He is now with the Montreal Canadiens on a one-year, $650,000 contract with the rivals to the north.
Ending the Seguin Narrative
Although all four trade pieces were removed from the roster, one link to Seguin remained until recently: Hayes. On top of the pressure put on Hayes returning to his hometown team, he was also forever connected to Seguin since he was traded for Smith, who was involved in the original deal. As with the other four players, Hayes will also be out of the Bruins’ organization for the 2017-18 season after his contract was bought out on June 30, 2017.
Hayes and Morrow moving on officially ended all the roster connections to Seguin. The narrative of linking current Bruins to Seguin can finally end. No longer do we have to hear about how players involved in the trade are not producing at the same insane level the star forward on the Dallas Stars is. We no longer have to watch two games each season littered with commentary on the trade and instead can simply watch the Bruins play the Stars. We no longer have to fear turning on the radio only to hear segments about how bad the trade was for the 783rd time and how the Bruins are still hurting from the move.
Personally, I could not be happier to potentially be rid of all the garbage that came with one of the worst trades ever executed in Boston sports.
Can Boston Move On?
The question now is, can the Boston sports media finally move on from the deal with all the pieces now gone? I hope this is the case, but the city of Boston is home to some of the saltiest sports fans in the world, so thinking people can let the trade go might be wishful thinking. It might be in the best interest of fans and media members alike to wash their hands of the whole situation and focus on the roster GM Don Sweeney has assembled because there are plenty of young players to be excited for entering the 2017-18 season. The bottom line is now is the time to move on, stop holding onto Seguin, free yourself of the narrative and push forward.