This past week alone, Seguin and the Bruins have faced an Islanders club led by John Tavares, who made the leap from juniors straight to the NHL after being taken with the top pick in 2009, and an Oilers team featuring 18-year-old Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 19-year-old Taylor Hall and four other players 21 or younger.
Next up are visits from the Sabres, who have had Tyler Myers on their blue line since he was a 19-year-old rookie in 2009-10, and the Devils, who have Adam Larsson, 18, logging big minutes on defense after being taken fourth overall this June.
All around the league, young stars are making an immediate impact like never before, and few are complaining about the excitement and enthusiasm the youngsters are bringing to the game.
"It's good to see, and at the same time it goes to show how our game has developed as far as youth hockey is concerned and how it's being managed," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "You've got some guys with skill that are coming up.
"It's nice to see those kinds of things happening," Julien added. "Everybody takes a different route and right now we're seeing those young guys from the Oilers, our young guy [Seguin] for sure, Tavares and others having some sort of an impact in the league at an early age, and I'm OK with that."
Perfect storm for a youth movement
There are plenty of factors contributing to the NHL's youth movement. As Julien alluded to, players are being better prepared for the transition to the NHL at the junior level, enabling more of the top talents to make the leap at an early age.
Then there's the financial incentive of filling out a roster with a few guys on relatively inexpensive entry-level deals. Those considerations have become particularly important in recent years since the implementation of a hard salary cap following the owners' lockout in 2004-05.
"The feeder leagues have done a great job in producing NHL players," Hall said. "And with the way the cap is, the rookie contracts these days make it pretty good for a young guy to come in and make an impact and that's what we're trying to do."
Top picks like Hall aren't exactly making chump change, with the elite youngsters earning upwards of $900,000. That's the maximum base salary on an entry-level deal, with bonuses that can add a couple of million more. But if they are talented enough to produce right away, that's still usually cheaper than what it costs to sign a veteran free agent on the open market.
"Obviously, to have success you're going to have to manage the cap," Bruins forward Shawn Thornton said. "That's the way it is nowadays. If you can have younger guys step in and fill a void, that helps. That being said, they're all making more than me. They're a bigger cap hit than me. But if you're getting a lot of production out of a kid that's only getting a million instead of when he's on his second or third contract making four or five [million], then you want to get the most of him."
The lockout didn't just introduce a new economic system that fosters a youth movement. The league also returned from that work stoppage with a new set of rules designed to open up the game by eliminating the obstruction that had bogged down the pre-lockout game so much.
"The clutching and grabbing from before slowing down [the game] meant that those young players were probably not strong enough to deal with that," Julien said. "It took away a lot of their skill and what they could bring to the table. But now because there is no holding back and slowing guys down, they're able to showcase their talent quicker and better."
Speed is the name of the game now, and those young legs can bring that element to bear, even if the rest of their bodies haven't quite filled out yet.
"It's really big," said Bruins forward Brad Marchand, a relative graybeard at 23. "It gives a lot of young guys who are dreaming of being in the league a lot of motivation. And now it's becoming a young league and a lot of guys are getting opportunities. And it shows that nowadays speed is such a big part of the game and they're going after the young guys who have speed and are skillful."
Younger players are also in better shape now upon their arrival in the NHL thanks to a greater emphasis on conditioning throughout the youth and junior ranks.
"I suppose the way they train now and everybody has a personal trainer and fitness and nutrition really is paramount nowadays," Edmonton coach Tom Renney said.
Renney also suggested another reason the league has gotten younger since the lockout, noting that many veterans didn't return after that long layoff, opening up even more jobs for newcomers.
"I think since the lockout and the attrition and the toll it took on the older players and that influx of younger players at that time almost made it a younger league," Renney said. "It seems to have taken on that trend since then, and that might have a lot to do with it."
Challenges for young and old alike
Renney isn't complaining. He's enjoying the chance to work with such talented youngsters and witness firsthand the blossoming of a new generation of stars.
"It's exciting hockey," Renney said. "Sometimes you have to get out of their way as a coach and let them go, and that's OK. The big thing is it can't be at the expense of the two points or playing the game properly without the puck as well. But it is exciting. It is fan-friendly at this point and time and has been since the lockout. So it's exciting again for the fans because of the young guys that are in it and I think that's important to identify with that."
Renney did admit that coaching so many youngsters in Edmonton has required some adjusting.
"You've got to stay in tune with the athlete, you've got to know what's in their world," Renney said. "You've got to stay abreast of how they feel, what they think, what they listen to, what they eat, what's important to them. You also have to impart a certain wisdom from experience that you have that helps them grow. But at the same time sometimes you have to step out of the way too."
The veterans in the league will pass on their experience as well, but they too see the benefits to at least allowing some baptism by fire.
"I guess that's how they learn the quickest," Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg said. "If their body can hold up and they can play against the older guys, then that's certainly the best for them to stay up and learn the game."
Seidenberg marvels at the ability of this latest generation of stars, noting that he was nowhere close to being ready for the NHL when he was at that age.
"You saw last year, Tyler was finding his way throughout the season," Seidenberg said. "You saw [Steven] Stamkos in his first season just kind of finding his way and you saw spurts of it, and the next year Stamkos exploded. Right now Siggy's on his way to do the same thing. Tavares you can say the same thing, and [Jeff] Skinner in Carolina.
"They're really gritty players and they work really hard and they're strong guys," added Seidenberg, who wasn't drafted until he was 20 when he was picked in the sixth round by Philadelphia in 2001. "It's just impressive to see. I couldn't do it at 18, there's no way. I played in Germany in the professional league [at that age], but it's a different level. Consistency-wise it's crazy. There were games I was good, but then again I dropped off big time. Consistency is the biggest thing. They all have skill, they all can work hard, but to bring it every game is the toughest part."
But this latest generation of players is producing consistently in greater numbers than ever before, which should only bode well for the future of the game.
"The way the game is changing, it seems that prospects and young players prepare themselves and come in so ready to play," Tavares said. "They're so physically mature and mentally mature and are better able to handle things than maybe even five, 10 or 20 years ago. The development of players and their skill level and how talented they are at young ages, the things they can do and their creativity is at its highest level it's ever been.
"I think you're going to see more and more of it," Tavares added. "And I think in a few years you're going to see the league be really strong with all these young guys becoming older and more mature and being veterans in the league. It's going to make the league even better and more exciting, so it's great to see."