In the Stars’ come-from-behind 5-3 victory in Game 3 on Monday, Seguin assisted on a pair of Jason Robertson goals, including the game winner at 11:54 of the third period. The win gave Dallas a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series.
“Whatever he’s been asked to do, he’s done,” Stars general manager Jim Nill said. “He’s been great. All he thinks about is helping the team win, not about how many points he gets. That’s how you build legacies.
“Look, I know he had questions a few years back about where his career was headed. It’s tough for players, especially when you go through injuries.”
Nill was referring to moment in the winter of 2021 that Seguin admits changed his life in many ways.
It was Jan. 26, and the injured Stars forward sat in front of a crackling fire with a buddy in Muskoka, Ontario, an upscale cottage area two hours north of Toronto. There, on a TV, the two watched the Stars win 2-1 in overtime against the Detroit Red Wings. At one point, he looked over at his pal and said: "I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to play anymore. My career might be over. This might be it.”
After playing each game in the Stars' run to the 2020 Stanley Cup Final on a torn hip labrum, Seguin missed all but three games in 2020-21 dealing with hip and knee ailments.
“Those were dark times,” he recalls now. “I’m not sure if retirement was a real possibility but you have different thoughts. ‘Can I play again? If so, at what level?’ I think a lot of athletes go through that with surgeries and setbacks.
“That was a pinpoint of my career and life. I’d just gone through back-to-back surgeries and had six months of sitting on my butt, not really having a good support system. It was hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. COVID was happening. You couldn’t really see anybody. At those times you learn about your own mindset and my own mental side of being a human, an athlete and growing as a person.
“When I look back on it, it wasn’t a cry out for help in any way. It was more about figuring out who I was and who I wanted to be, whether it be at the rink or away from it.”
With time has come healing, physically and spiritually. He calls last year “the best summer of my life” after marrying his fiancée, Kate, in the Bahamas. In the process, he admits he’s grown up on the ice and off.
“I think it takes time to get to this point,” the 32-year-old said. “I think there was a period of time where you are fighting your ego, thinking of what you deserve. And at a certain point, you have to understand what is more important: what you think you deserve or what you think makes the team better.
“I had to look at myself and say: ‘What do I want?’ I mean, I’ve made money. I have a great home life. I’m married now. In the end, what I really want is to share the experiences that I had back when I was a kid, with this group of guys.
“That’s what’s important. And that’s why I don’t give a damn where I am in the lineup.”
What Seguin would really like his teammates to enjoy is the feeling of lifting the Stanley Cup, something he did with the 2011 Boston Bruins. The No. 2 by pick Boston in the 2010 NHL Draft, he was only 19 years old and says now he didn’t really appreciate the moment at the time. Now he’s closing in on another chance to do just that, this time with the Stars.
“I learned from being around guys like Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara and Mark Recchi, true pros,” he said. “And now I want to have the same impact on the kids we have on our team.
“Some years you start the season looking at your roster and say, ‘Meh.’ Then there are others where you see the team progress throughout the year and you just know, 'This is here. This is our chance.'
“We have a great opportunity here with the mix of veterans and kids, all very skilled. The chips are going to fall where they fall. Let’s just have no regrets and do everything we can.”
