When a big-name player with game-breaking ability is selected with a top choice in the NHL draft, the labels are thrown around liberally. They’ll call him the phenom, the wunderkind, the star. The sky is the limit, so why worry about what’s on the ground?

Yet when it comes time for a teenager to actually make a difference in the NHL in their rookie campaign, those labels can quickly disappear and be replaced with one tag: the kid. 

Tyler Seguin can identify with it. The Bruins’ rookie forward’s season-long adjustment to the NHL remains ongoing, and it can be seen in both his production and the opportunities given to him. Talent-wise’s, he is one of the most explosive young players in the league, but he’s still got a ways to go in his own end. He’s still getting more comfortable playing a physical game. Even with the team’s power play struggles and the potential payoff of his skills on the man advantage, he couldn’t find any time on it in Saturday’s loss to the Lightning. He wants to be a guy the B’s can rely on, and it’s been seen in brief spurts, like his highlight-reel goal in his first career playoff game. All things considered, though, the 19-year-old is still trying to prove it. 

“Sometimes it is tough,” Seguin, who was a healthy scratch in the Bruins’ first 11 playoff games, said Sunday of being the little brother of the Bruins’ roster. “Sometimes that can be a reason why you don't get certain little things or opportunities, but it's also good, because I know it's a big learning curve. I am young, and I'm not 25 and in my prime right now. I’m young. I'm just learning and taking it all in.”

Billed as the next Steven Stamkos, Seguin came to Boston as the second overall pick last summer and scored in his second career game. Yet as the season progressed, the youngster (then 18 years of age) looked more like a player who was learning than one who was dominating. The adjustments needed to be made, but it was hardly the first time a young mountain of talent took a little extra time to erupt. Stamkos himself, the player to whom Seguin was commonly compared, went through the same thing in his rookie year after the Lightning made him the first overall pick in 2008.

As many will remember, Stamkos, who had 58 goals in his last OHL season, scored only three through his first 23 games in the NHL. Then 18 years old, he dealt with healthy scratches and difficulty adjusting to the league before turning it on for 20 goals the rest of the way. So when he sees Seguin trying to prove that age ain’t nothing but a number, he knows the feeling. 

“There's ups and downs,” Stamkos, who would finish the 2008-09 season with 23 goals, said Sunday of being a highly touted rookie. “I went through that in my rookie year, and he went through that this year. … He's going to be a great player in this league for a long time, but you kind of have to feel out the league. 

“You realize that you're [a teenager] and sometimes you've got to take a step back. You're [a teenager] playing in the best league in the world against men. When you look at it that way, it's a feat in itself. Sometimes you get caught putting too much pressure on yourself or listening to the media and stuff like that.”

One thing that Stamkos and Seguin, who are both rightie-shooting Ontario natives who are similarly sized and skilled, do not have in common is how their respective teams fared when they were rookies. After picking Stamkos first overall in 2008, the Lightning were in position to draft Victor Hedman a year later. Stamkos had to wait until this season – his third – to even get a taste of the playoffs, while Seguin made his postseason debut on Saturday. 

While three years was a bit of a wait for Stamkos to make it to the postseason, where he is now versus where he was early in his rookie season can be a reminder for Seguin that though he may not be the superstar right away, if he stays on the right track, he’ll get there. In Stamkos’ case, he’s established himself (96 goals over the past two seasons) to the point that when a right-handed center prospect like Seguin comes along, it’s his name that pops up in comparisons. Teams picking high want to get a Stamkos, for obvious reasons. It’s been a big rise for Stamkos, and it’s all happened in a matter of three years – two in the case of the comparisons when Seguin was drafted.  

“It's definitely flattering,” Stamkos said. “The time has flown by. We're in the conference finals in my third year already. It's crazy. When you have fun and you work hard, the time passes by pretty quick.” 

Seguin, who had to get something like a two-week head-start on his playoff beard, says he “understands” that being viewed as the kid might mean his talents or ability to contribute could be downplayed, but his teammates don’t look at it that way. Fellow rookie Brad Marchand didn’t have to try breaking in as a teenager, so he gives Seguin credit.

“Even though guys say he's a kid, and they call him a young'un and stuff like that, he's so unbelievable out there,” Marchand said of Seguin. “He plays older than he is. He has more talent than a lot of guys in this league.”

Stamkos, who had very nice things to say about Seguin, agrees. Once No. 91 got rolling during his rookie season, he took off, but it wasn’t without some early struggles. If Seguin can overcome them like Stamkos did, the comparisons will persist, which would be a very good thing for the Bruins.  

“I think all you can ask for is an opportunity, and once you get that opportunity, it's up to you and whether you take advantage of it,” Stamkos said. “For me, it took me a while to adjust to the game. I'm sure Tyler felt that way as well. It's a tough league. You look at the players who have come in. Not all the time is it going to happen right away. You have to feel comfortable out there, get your confidence. Once you have that, that's when you can really take off. For his sake, [Saturday] was probably a big confidence boost for him.”

It’s anybody’s guess whether Seguin will get any time on the power play. Nobody even knows whether he’ll stick in the lineup once Patrice Bergeron returns. Yet when Seguin faces those moments of frustration, he can take solace in the fact that he isn’t the first to go through it, and that it worked out pretty well for the guy in the other dressing room.