Seguin forgets ID, not recognized by security before game against Golden Knights

On Tuesday night, Dallas Stars forward Tyler Seguin had trouble getting into T-Mobile Arena for his team’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights. He had forgotten his identification showing that he was, in fact, an NHL player and could enter the arena at the player’s entrance.

It was the first time the veteran forward had such an encounter in his 14 seasons in the league.

“I think I've maybe brought the little badge thing maybe once or twice. Not so much that I feel like people would recognize me, but when they see maybe the age and the suit, they kind of assume,” Seguin said. “A lot of times we come on a team bus and I've never really been asked. But in Vegas, the hotel is walkable, so I walked over. I didn't think anything about it, and the guy took his job seriously, and I respect that. He wasn't going to allow me in.”

With only a picture of his driver’s license on his phone, Seguin resorted to a different picture to try to prove he was who he said he was: his team headshot from media day.

“I went on my camera roll and found the headshot, showed him the headshot and gave him the smile that I thought the headshot represented, and he looked at me and he continued to say, ‘You could be anybody,’” Seguin said. “And I said, ‘fair enough, I respect you and your job.’”

Luckily for Seguin, his coach, Pete DeBoer, was a few minutes behind him. The security guard recognized him immediately, as he coached in Vegas from 2020 to 2022.

“The security guy looked right at Pete and said ‘Hey Pete!’,” Seguin said. “And I kind of said, ‘Alright, sounds good.’ And Pete looked over and said, ‘What's going on?’ and I said, ‘Won't let me in, coach!’ Coach started laughing and said, ‘That's Tyler Seguin and he's on my team.’

“I had a nice chuckle about it.”

When asked if that’s the first time he’s been recognized before one of his players, DeBoer said, “Over Tyler Seguin, yes, that's probably the first time. Other than maybe if we walked into an old-age home in Ontario or somewhere, I might get the benefit in my hometown. It was kind of comical that they called me over to vouch that this was actually Tyler Seguin and he actually was a player in the NHL and on our team.”

It's an incident that Seguin isn’t likely to live down anytime soon. Seguin’s friends and family also cracked jokes at his expense, especially when the photos of his interaction with the security guard hit social media. It also led to a funny fan sign in warmups that night that said, “Did we check Seguin’s 3 forms of ID?”

“I think [Stars forward Matt Duchene] tapes his stick maybe before games and saw the sign," Seguin said. “He came into me before we walked out for warmups and said there's a pretty funny sign over there. So, I took a glance, and I enjoyed it, so I went over to the fan and gave her a puck.”

“One of those moments that I'll remind him of as we go forward,” DeBoer said.