This is a topic that really would never have seemed worth addressing a week ago, but Boston is a city of worriers, so it shouldn’t be totally surprising that it has somehow arisen. Here goes: 

Some of the recent chatter that’s taken place regarding new Bruins center Tyler Seguin has been like a bad horror movie that is just suspenseful/gory enough to reel you in. You take it in, knowing all the while how far-fetched it is, yet for some absurd, unknown reason, you’re scared. 

That’s what is likely going through the minds of Bruins fans everywhere as they hear whispers that Seguin could potentially not play for the NHL club next season. A 48-goal-scorer in the OHL with a track record of underachieving when not playing at the highest level is going to head back to Plymouth for another season? And while the Bruins struggle to upgrade the league’s worst offense beyond Nathan Horton?

Depth chart be damned, that just doesn’t sound very sensible. 

Yes, the Bruins are deep at center, but they are far from deep when it comes to goal-scorers, which Seguin is undeniably. In addition to having a shot and mindset right on par with many of the elite talents to enter the league in recent years, he’s joining a contending team that is still a piece or two away. Cam Neely even said on Monday that the organization is “counting on him" to make the team. 

Why wouldn’t they count on Seguin next season? This isn’t a team struggling to sell tickets in a bad market or trying to rebuild. This is a contender with its captain in the final year of his contract and one of its biggest leaders in Mark Recchi perhaps playing his last season.  

One would think Neely wouldn’t just say that if he weren’t ultra-confident in the youngster being in the team’s plans for 2010-2011. The Bruins president is smart enough to know that indicating such only to see him play another year of juniors would cause mass panic amongst New England’s hockey fans. He very easily could have taken the “he’s young, he’ll help out eventually -- when that is, we don’t know,” road, but he didn’t. That’s the hard evidence. Now for a history lesson.  

The last top-two pick to not play basically the entire next season in the NHL was Philadelphia’s James van Riemsdyk, who went second overall in 2007. Having watched JVR closely in his first year at the University of New Hampshire, it is very difficult to compare him with where Seguin is right now.  

The most notable reason that van Riemsdyk and Seguin is an apples-and-oranges comparison is that JVR seemed overmatched from a maturity standpoint while playing at UNH as a freshman. The stats were there, but he dogged it at times. He didn’t play full games. He would dominate for shifts at a time and then disappear sporadically. He countered clean hits with ill-advised plays and left his team shorthanded when it was the last thing they needed.  

Then there’s Seguin. Two seasons ago, his first in the OHL, he was made a fourth-liner for the Whalers. He didn’t produce, as he was buried on the depth chart beneath players less talented than him. 

A coaching change happened, and after going 17 games with just one goal, coach Mike Vellucci gave him a chance to prove himself on the second line at center. 

He responded extremely well, spending the next year and a half dominating at both center and right wing (he played on the top line as a wing in his first year after a promotion from the second line).  

So what’s the worst that could happen if Seguin starts the season as a Bruin and struggles out of the gate? Based on his resurgence in ’08-’09 with the Whalers after the first 17 games, it would appear he has the makeup to not allow slumps to get to him.  

Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli cautioned people look to Steven Stamkos’ rough start in the NHL before getting too carried away with what Seguin could potentially do as a rookie. Even so, if somebody put up the numbers Stamkos did as rookie – 23 goals and 23 assists – they would have led the ’09-’10 Bruins in goals and been third in points. This isn’t to say that Seguin’s a sure thing for more than 40 points, but even if he shows flashes of brilliance early and later establishes himself as a top-six forward (whether at center or wing), he’ll have put both himself and the team in very good shape.  

There doesn’t seem much more for Seguin to prove as an individual in the Ontario Hockey League. He’s already led the league in points and been awarded the Red Tilson trophy (Most Outstanding Player). Even if it takes a little time before he’s completely comfortable, it appears the time has come for him to bring his scoring touch to Boston.