Seguin isn't going to unseat last year's leading scorer in the playoffs or all-around standout Patrice Bergeron for one of the plum assignments to center either of the Bruins' scoring lines.
But Wednesday night in Carolina, Seguin showed that his time as an offensive leader for this club isn't too far off, and the Bruins can feel pretty confident in their depth down the middle if further injuries strike.
Seguin also showed that while he might not deserve to take a spot away from Krejci or Bergeron, he is ready to take on a bigger role in the offense even when everyone is healthy. How Claude Julien manages to do that may not be easy, but having too much talent is one problem no coach will ever complain about.
And make no mistake, there is no denying Seguin's immense talent. It's simple a matter of harnessing it and getting him to take advantage of his gifts on a consistent basis.
Seguin replaced Krejci on the top line between Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton on Wednesday in Carolina, and the trio finally showed some life after a sluggish start to the season.
"He's one of the guys who scored a goal for us tonight and kind of got us back in the game," Julien said. "It's his first game [on the top line] and I thought he handled it well. It's not just about one guy. I think if the whole line finds a way to play better as a whole they're going to be even more effective."
Seguin scored Boston's first goal on Wednesday, getting the Bruins on the board and back in the game just 25 seconds after Carolina had made it a 2-0 game.
"I think me and Horty criss-crossed or something and I went wide," Seguin said. "Looch drove hard to the net and at the last second I just decided to go short side. I thought [Carolina goalie Cam Ward] was sliding over a little bit and luckily it went in."
Ward didn't feel there was much luck involved. He marveled at Seguin's ability to place the puck just over his glove and under the crossbar on the near side from the low end of the right faceoff circle.
"The kid's got a great release," Ward told Versus analyst Pierre McGuire after the game. "I mean, what can I say? He didn't have a lot of room I don't think. If you look at the replay, it wasn't a great angle. He put a great shot that just honestly beat me."
Seguin finished with a team-high four shots and was a plus-1 in a career-high 20:06. Lucic and Horton, who had combined for seven shots in Boston's first three games (six by Lucic), each had three shots as well as the top line accounted for 10 of the Bruins' 28 shots.
"I think obviously you can't just jump in and find chemistry right away," Seguin said. "I hadn't played with Looch that much. I played with Horty a little bit in preseason. I knew a little bit about their game from watching but not really from playing. But I definitely thought in the third period we started clicking better and it started to pay off well. We had that goal. We couldn't bury any more, but we had some opportunities."
Seguin, who remains tied with Brad Marchand for the team scoring lead with 1-3-4 totals through four games, has assured himself of getting more opportunities as well. They might not come on the top line with Lucic and Horton for too much longer, but the Bruins will have to find ways to utilize his unique skill set going forward.
