The Feb. 28 trade deadline is one week away, and with less than $1 million in cap space, it’s a safe bet that the Bruins, who have already added help on the power play (Tomas Kaberle) as well as the bottom six forward mix (Rich Peverley and Chris Kelly) will not be adding a major scorer. What you see may be what you get with this roster, and the players like their chances. 

Yet despite the chances being slim of a big name scorer coming to Boston, one player who has fit that bill would like to have that sort of impact for the B’s down the stretch. With trade season at its peak for the Bruins last week, rookie Tyler Seguin, who a season ago lit up the OHL to the tune of 48 goals, showed signs of life that could mean he’s headed down the right path at the right time. 

A healthy scratch for two consecutive games earlier this month, Seguin had brief flashes in two games after returning to the lineup, but it wasn’t anything he hadn’t shown before. Last Thursday and Friday (coincidentally or not, the team’s most recent games since Peter Chiarelli started adding forwards, which, with the trade of Blake Wheeler leaves them with one more forward than they had a week ago), however, Seguin has played like both a kid who’s starting to get it and a man fighting for his job.

Seguin knew from the healthy scratches that his presence in the lineup wasn’t a given, and rather than the obvious fear that players have around the trade deadline, the 19-year-old admits that he wondered whether the team would look for players at the deadline who could potentially give him even more competition to stay on the ice.

“Obviously you don’t want to worry about it too much, but it’s the back of your mind, I’m not going to lie,” Seguin said Sunday in a chat with WEEI.com “I’ve really got to just show myself and the coaches that I can step up and show that I have a role here, and that’s what I’ve been trying to do [since the scratches].

“I just want to show consistency, so maybe they don’t have to get another really good player and they can rely on me a bit more." 

Whether the Bruins end up relying on him more remains to be seen. With Peverley in town, the B’s have a versatile forward who takes a lot of shots and is a plus on faceoffs. Claude Julien sees the former Predator and Thrasher “jumping into Wheeler’s spot for now,” and intends to play Peverley on a line with Kelly and Michael Ryder in the early going.  

If Peverley, Kelly, and Ryder end up making up the third line, which is where Seguin has spent most of his first year in the NHL, Julien may need to get creative in finding opportunities for the youngster. He could play him with Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton, though with the offensive promise Seguin showed against the Islanders and Senators, that might not be the most proper utilization. Still, Julien has always been about a rewards system, so it would be tough to see Seguin getting the short end of the stick based on recent play and his ceiling. 

“He’s one of those guys that can jump in there, especially sometimes after we’ve either killed a penalty or are coming off a power play, stuff like that,” Julien said Sunday. “It’s about moving him around and giving him an opportunity to play when need be, and I think he’s played much better the last few games.

“We feel he’s been playing better and I always try to get those guys as much as I can in a position where they can benefit and help out hockey club.“

Seguin, who came in with all the hype that surrounds top picks, did not set the world on fire in early on, though few could fairly expect such an immediate impact from an 18-year-old (he turned 19 at the end of January). Still, Seguin’s rookie season has been a case of uncharted waters, and not for the most obvious reason.

The Brampton, Ontario native actually has experience with taking time to hit his stride in a new place. As a 16-year-old in the OHL, Seguin had a slow start for the Plymouth Whalers (one goal in 17 games) before a coaching change and a promotion from the fourth line to the second line sparked increased output. While Seguin can take that as proof that one shouldn’t get too down from early struggles, he probably didn’t know how to prepare for being a healthy scratch. Without the opportunity to play his way out of it, Seguin (who was also a healthy scratch Dec. 15 in Buffalo) did the only thing he could given the situation: he watched. 

Based on how he can view the experiences of this month’s scratches, it seems he also may have learned. 

“I think the scratches definitely were a wakeup call, and I think it actually helped me in the end,” Seguin said. “Obviously I don’t ever want to do it again, but sitting out there showed me that you do have a lot more time and space than you think being on the ice, and I’ve been trying to take more advantage of that now since being scratched.”

After getting less than 9:30 of ice time in each of his four games leading up to his two healthy scratches this month (which were his second and third of the season), Seguin has played at least 11 minutes in his four games since. While that may not be strikingly noteworthy when considering the fact that he played 14:56 in the first game of the season, it does show that after the rookie hit perhaps his lowest part of the season, he’s climbing back, and he’s going about it the right way. 

“I think maybe I was just blaming the wrong people. I just had to take care of myself and my responsibility and more accountability,” Seguin admitted. “Since the scratches I’ve been trying to do that. Whether it’s eight minutes, 10 minutes or 20 minutes, it’s all on me, and not on anyone else. I have to earn every shift that I get.”

It seems he has earned them of late. Now it’s a matter of what he’ll do with the next ones.