Move over, Taylor Hall: With an old friend back in town, Phil Kessel will star in the most recent edition of "Tyler vs." 

It seems like only yesterday that the Bruins traded a 36-goal-scorer to the Maple Leafs for a few picks. The Leafs got their goal-scoring winger, and the B's got a season's worth of "just wait until the draft." As Toronto struggled en route to the second-worst record in the NHL, it seemed the stars were aligning for the Bruins to get Hall, the No. 2-rated player in the draft, behind only Tyler Seguin, seemingly destined for Edmonton. 

Yet as the OHL playoffs unfolded and Hall grabbed headlines, it became more and more realistic to expect that Hall would go first to the Oilers. After all the waiting and second-guessing of the trade, the Boston Bruins, who were a game away from the Eastern Conference finals a couple of months before, were going to get the No. 1 player in the NHL draft.

"I definitely watched [the NHL standings throughout the year]," Seguin said on Wednesday. "All year I kind of thought where I was and how I was going to maybe to Carolina or something. The way it worked out, I was very happy. I mean, it's a pretty good thing when you can go to a team that's already a Cup-contending team."

Seguin, a native of Brampton, Ontario, grew up watching the Maple Leafs, as Toronto is about 40 minutes away from where he grew up. The 18-year-old is well-spoken and careful with what he says, but he admitted on Wednesday that "I think growing up, all I did was want Toronto to win a Cup." It's quite ironic the way everything fell into place, given that by trading away their first-rounder in last year's draft, the Leafs blew their chance at making Seguin a hometown hero.

Now, with Seguin a member of the rival Bruins, his text message inbox runneth over. Friends from home have notified him that they're pulling for the Leafs despite sporting Seguin jerseys, and Seguin is left wondering what Ontario even thinks of him these days. 

"I guess I'm their enemy," Seguin said with a laugh. "I don't know if I'm still a hometown local guy that's liked pretty well."

With regard to how Toronto is viewing the deal these days, it would be hard for them to complain after jumping out to a 5-2-1 record, tied for tops in the division, and getting seven goals from Kessel in the early going. Seguin can understand that the Kessel vs. Seguin storyline may be a popular one throughout both of their careers, but he'd like the rookie dust to settle before he faces comparisons to a guy who's scored 30 or more goals in each of the last two seasons. 

"I think it is a little bit too early right now to just do that," Seguin said. "Phil's much older. He's already on the top line. He's already earned his stripes, and I'm just a guy who's what, six games into my career? It's a little bit different."

Seguin thinks highly of Kessel, whom he got to know over the summer when the two were in Atlantic City for a Bauer promotion. There was naturally plenty to talk about between the two, as each one was perhaps more familiar with the other's new home than the other. After all, Seguin spent 16 years in Ontario, and Kessel played the first three years of his NHL career in Boston. 

Naturally, the two discussed the cities of Toronto and Boston. Seguin noted that Kessel spoke highly of both places as the two got to know one another. Was it hard to avoid that the two had, when all was said and done, been traded for one another? That the two were in store for career-long comparisons and, with the Leafs aiming for a better season, a rejuvenated Boston-Toronto rivalry?

"Honestly, it was nothing crazy," Seguin said. "We don't get into too much stats or anything. I'd say it's more the media that does that, I guess. We're just two hockey guys. I know he loves Toronto. He says he loves it a lot there, so it's good for him."

It is good for Kessel, and it's good for the Leafs. The Bruins have yet to see all the return they will on the deal (they've still got Toronto's first-rounder in the coming draft), but getting the local kid who has impressed so far (three points and a YouTube clip with about 80,000 hits) has been a good start for the B's.

On Thursday, the two teams will for the first time see their respective products of the trade take the same ice against one another. With the Leafs trying to continue their hot start, it should be the first of many Northeast division matchups starring the products of the deal.