"I feel like I'm back at the draft," said Seguin with a smile. "We must be playing Toronto or something."
Just six games into his NHL career, the 18-year-old center will be prominent in most of the storylines for Thursday's matchup with the Maple Leafs.
Seguin grew up in Leafs country in Brampton, Ontario, and could have been wearing a Toronto sweater in this game. But the Leafs traded three drafts picks to Boston for Phil Kessel last September, and after Toronto plummeted down the standings, the Bruins used the first of those picks to take Seguin with the No. 2 overall selection in June.
On Wednesday, Seguin said he never wonders what could have been if the Leafs and Bruins hadn't made that trade, or what it would be like if he was suiting up for his hometown team this season.
"Not really, now that it's all said and done, I think that what happened was meant to be," said Seguin. "I'm happy to be here in Boston."
But Seguin's presence on the Bruins' roster does present some problems for the folks back home in Brampton.
"I think my friends might have [been looking forward to Thursday's game] more than I have, but it should be a lot of fun," said Seguin. "It might be weird at first seeing the Leaf jersey on the opposing team.
"I think growing up all I wanted was for Toronto to win a Cup. That's what everybody wanted," added Seguin. "I never really had a favorite team, they were just my local team. Now I'm going against them. I've got some buddies back home who say they're Toronto fans but say they're going to be wearing Seguin jerseys, so we'll see what happens."
Seguin did admit that he followed the standings closely throughout last year, trying to figure out where he could end up in the draft.
"I definitely watched it," said Seguin. "All year I thought about where I was and I thought I might be going to end up in Carolina or something. The way it worked out, I was very happy. It's a pretty good thing when you go into a team that is already a Cup-contending team, and now I just want to contribute."
The pressure will be on Seguin, who has a goal and two assists through six games, to contribute right away, as Kessel is off to a hot start start with seven goals and a pair of assists through eight games in Toronto. But while he knows the comparisons are inevitable, Seguin isn't buying into the competition with Kessel.
"I think it's a little too early right now to do that," said Seguin. "Phil's much older. He's on the top line. He's already earned his stripes and I'm just a guy who's what — six game into my career? So it's a little bit different."
Seguin and Kessel actually have a connection beyond the trade, as they spent several days together in Atlantic City this summer at an event sponsored by hockey equipment manufacturer Bauer.
"We talked about Boston," said Seguin. "He said he loves Toronto, and we knew a lot of the same places in Toronto, good restaurants and stuff like that."
Bruins coach Claude Julien also downplayed the comparisons between Seguin and Kessel, but did recognize that this will be an emotional game for the rookie going up against his hometown team.
"He wasn't involved in the trade," said Julien. "He was just their draft pick that was sent our way. I don't think he was part of it when it was originally done. But I think just the fact that he is from that area, it's got to be pretty special for him and I'm sure he's going to be pretty excited about it."
And Julien plans to help Seguin get through the emotional day with a few well-timed words of wisdom.
"Every once in a while I'll just slip a little word here or there to the player on game day," said Julien. "It's more about relaxing than anything else. I think he's handled most of these situations pretty well so far, so I can't see him doing anything different."
