Stars forward Seguin reflects on key moments in career ahead of 1,000th NHL game 

For a player who was picked as early as Tyler Seguin was, No. 2 in the 2010 NHL Draft, the highs that he has reached in his career make sense. From playing in the Stanley Cup Final three times, winning in 2011, to nearing 400 goals, it has been an NHL tenure rich with accomplishments.

But it has also seen its share of difficult moments, of disappointments, from the trade that shipped him from the Boston Bruins to the Dallas Stars to losses in two of those Stanley Cup Finals to surgeries on each of his hips that cost him all but three games in the 2020-21 season and all but 20 in the 2024-25 season.

It has all combined to give the 33-year-old perspective beyond his years, even if he has suddenly felt those years creeping up on him.

“I’ve felt times of bliss with winning early, with having a daughter, with going from [being] this single, really confident kid to I think I was the oldest player on my team last night,” he said of a game last Thursday against the Los Angeles Kings in which Jamie Benn and Matt Duchene were out because of injuries.

“It’s happened quick.”

Seguin sits on the brink of 1,000 games, with 999 in his NHL career over 16 seasons, three in Boston and 13 in Dallas. In that time, he has 814 points (363 goals, 451 assists) in the regular season and 79 points (29 goals, 50 assists) in 151 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“There’s no regrets with it,” Seguin said. “I’m just so happy with how everything’s come together and now it’s about just trying to add that championship to being in Dallas. There’s been a lot of changes over the years and a lot of good people in my life that have helped me get to this point.

“I think 1,000 games was never anything I really thought about much until the last few years of just the journey it’s been to get here, with the surgeries and the body and now feeling the healthiest I’ve been in years and about to hit this 1,000th game thing.

“It never was cool and now it’s turned out to be pretty cool.”

With the milestone game on Thursday against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena (7 p.m. ET; HBOMAX, TNT), the forward last week took NHL.com through 10 of the most memorable, most important, and most impactful games of his career:

Oct. 9 and 10, 2010: The Bruins faced the Arizona Coyotes in Prague, Czechia, where Seguin made his NHL debut at 18 years old. In the second game, he scored his first NHL goal, on a breakaway, shooting and crashing into the net.

“Pretty crazy to start your NHL career overseas. I’ll never forget it being the first time getting to hang out with any of the guys on the Bruins. … I was young and a rookie but typically you have a few more young guys with you, and I was definitely the youngest by far. I had Brad Marchand (22) and Adam McQuaid (23) as the two closest to me. There’s definitely a lot of nerves at that time, just being so young and guys like Mark Recchi and (Zdeno) Chara and (Patrice) Bergeron, Hall of Famers that were on that team.

“I was just trying to find my way and trying to find some comfort in a much older team, a Cup contending team. And that’s what was different and special too -- typically when you’re a high pick you go to a team that’s kind of at the bottom of the League, kind of restarting and really young, and a lot of times you’re instantly on the power play or first or second line. I was going into a situation where it was a deep, really good hockey team and a contending team. So that was, in one breath you could say maybe a little tougher, but there was nothing tough about it as far as just a group of guys helping me understand, trying to figure out how to be a pro and learning from them.

“I remember playing a game against the Belfast Giants. I scored [twice]. I remember instantly it gave me confidence. Even though it was just an exhibition game against some team in Belfast, it was just being on the Bruins and getting comfortable. Back then I was always a really confident kid, probably arrogant and cocky as well. I think that’s what helped me jump into the League at that age during that time period of the NHL.

“And then scoring my first goal over there as well, in the second game against Arizona, I’ll never forget still to this day the feeling of being on my butt in the corner and realizing I scored my first NHL goal.”

Tyler Seguin battles Marc-Andre Bergeron of the Tampa Bay Lightning during his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut in Game 1 of the 2011 Eastern Conference Final.

May 14 and 17, 2011: After being scratched in each game of the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Seguin entered the lineup for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“Probably a little surreal. You think about your first NHL game and then you think about your first playoff game. You realize they’re two different types of style of hockey, regular season and playoff hockey, and that was an eye-opener. We were playing a good team, against Tampa, but again I had this swagger to myself that I never really felt that a moment was too big. I just wanted to go out there and skate as fast as I can and let everything else happen. My second game in playoffs that year was obviously a pretty different story.”

After getting two points (one goal, one assist) in Game 1 of the series, he became the first teenager to have four points in a playoff game since 19-year-old Trevor Linden did it for the Vancouver Canucks on April 9, 1989, with Seguin collecting two goals and two assists, all in the second period.

“I remember being in an elevator after the game with my manager at the time, John Walters, and just kind of taking a breath, trying to wrap my head around if that actually just happened. And still then in the next breath, after the game, I went and -- he’ll never remember it -- but I apologized to Nathan Horton for not passing to him on a two-on-one when I scored low glove because that’s where my head was at. You’re looking for the vets at all times. I have confidence as a kid, but I’m also submissive to some of these older guys who have been around so long. So it was an incredible moment.

“I’ll never forget, also, remembering the feeling after that game of thinking that then it was just going to continue, and that it was going to happen every night. And then it wasn’t. Then you’re back to the drawing board of what got me to this place and that was just my skating.”

Tyler Seguin joins the celebration after the Bruins win Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in Vancouver on June 15, 2011.

June 15, 2011: The Bruins and Canucks had played an all-time Stanley Cup Final, one that had everything from biting (Alexandre Burrows on Bergeron) to big hits (Aaron Rome on Horton) to goalies verbally jousting (Roberto Luongo and Tim Thomas). Each team held serve at home until the Bruins won Game 7, 4-0, in Vancouver.

“The series in general was pretty crazy. They got up two on us in Vancouver and everything kind of changed when Nathan Horton got hit (in Game 3). It was a play that really changed the series. Horton was one of our best in-the-moment players, he was a big-goal guy. He had some Game 7 winners (in the first round and Eastern Conference Final) and he was a big leader in the locker room and when that happened, everything changed. We were really good at home in that series and Vancouver is a hard place to win, but then that Game 7, we got up early and it was a short-handed goal by us (Bergeron, at 17:35 of the second period to make it 3-0) that really felt like that was going to be it. And I’ll never forget everyone on the bench, just being an older team, they were yelling at everyone to settle down. Me and ‘Marchy’ were just secretly kind of jumping still realizing that we think it’s done, though that’s to say it’s not close to being done. Then when that final buzzer went off, I mean, it was just an ecstatic, unbelievable feeling.”

Tyler Seguin battles Viktor Stalberg of the Blackhawks in Game 6 of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final. It would turn out to be Seguin’s last game with the Bruins.

June 24, 2013: Two years after winning the Stanley Cup, the Bruins reach Game 6 of the 2013 Final against the Chicago Blackhawks. They were leading 2-1 when, with 1:16 remaining in the game, the Blackhawks scored, then scored again 17 seconds later to clinch the Cup and hand the Bruins a stunning loss. It was Seguin’s last game in Boston.

“I’m still a younger player then, definitely found my way a bit more at that time. But I think we were up a goal and I took a wide shot, I remember hitting the post (at 17:36 of the third period). I wasn’t having a great playoffs at that point, statistically, and I remember getting to the bench just kind of mad and when I looked back, it was really my last shift as a Bruin.

“I never would have thought in that moment that was my last shift. They end up scoring a couple goals, it’s over, and I’m traded the next summer (on July 4, 2013) and I’m in Dallas, Texas. I mean everything happened so fast. But at the end of the day, there’s not many regrets with how everything’s happened. It was an incredible journey in Boston and I definitely, at the time, thought it was a little bit easier than what the League actually is, going to Finals twice in my first three years. It’s been a long journey, a lot of things to learn from, and it’s been a heck of a ride to this point.”

Tyler Seguin (91), in his third game with the Dallas Stars, celebrates a goal with Brenden Dillon and Jamie Benn.

Oct. 11, 2013: Seguin makes his debut as a member of the Stars on Oct. 3, 2013, but it was the third game of the season, a 4-1 win at the Winnipeg Jets, that he pointed to as the start of what would follow in Dallas. Seguin had four points (two goals, two assists) and Jamie Benn had three (one goal, two assists).

“There were a lot of new things in Dallas when I first got here. There were new coaches, new GM, new owner, new jerseys, and then forming this friendship and bond with the new captain, at the time, playing together. We were just two kids that kind of got (told), here’s the keys and try to take it and run with it.

“Coming from Boston, playing second, third line, playing wing a lot, get to Dallas, right into center, playing with Jamie Benn, didn’t know what it was going to be like and there was just a game where we kind of popped off with chemistry and I just felt like at that point, like, OK, there’s going to be something here. We were good friends off the ice and on the ice was coming together and then everything just started flowing. We started playing well, we’re sold out every night and it’s such a good organization and we’ve been a competitive team for years. It’s been cool to see it all come to fruition.”

The Stars would make the playoffs that season for the first time since 2008, losing in the Western Conference First Round to the Anaheim Ducks in six games.

Nov. 14, 2013: Seguin would score four goals, and add an assist, in a 7-3 win against the Calgary Flames at the Saddledome. It was the first and only time he had a four-goal game in his NHL career.

“By that point we knew we had something, something to build off of. It was years of being a team fighting to get in the playoffs, being a bubble team, to all of a sudden being a team that had expectations. Maybe coming to Dallas was the start of what the career was supposed to be, you get drafted to a team that’s starting a rebuild and that’s what I had in Dallas, and in Boston it was right to the end. I wouldn’t change anything, that’s just kind of how the story has gone.”

Tyler Seguin battles Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning during the 2020 Cup Final, played in the Edmonton bubble with no fans in attendance.

Sept. 28, 2020: After making the playoffs three times in his first six seasons in Dallas, the Stars put it all together for a run to the 2020 Stanley Cup Final (played with no fans while in the bubble during the coronavirus pandemic), including a 5-4 overtime win against the Colorado Avalanche in Game 7 of the Western Conference Second Round and a 3-2 overtime win against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final before losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6.

“It was such a tough time in the world, the whole situation, it was a tough time in the bubble, and then the last two weeks was really fun. That’s how I’ve always described it. Getting to the Final and having a good group, yeah, definitely a tough one to swallow.

“I know people will sometimes talk about no fans and stuff, but we still felt it, you know? When we were playing Vegas and (Denis) Gurianov had the overtime winner (in Game 5) or (Joel) Kiviranta had a Game 7 hat trick (against Colorado), those still felt like that. You forget about (not having) the crowd.

“I guess I don’t think about the bubble too much. Every time I go back to Edmonton I get a little antsy because we’re in the same hotel, it’s the same walk, you think about where you had to put your COVID tests and you see some of the old fence lines and stuff. Just a chapter that maybe you look back upon when we’re in big moments of just the disappointment that we felt back then. We’ve had lots of disappointment and lots of pretty sweet opportunities here over the years.”

Tyler Seguin returns to the Stars lineup on May 3, 2021 after missing most of the regular season.

May 3, 2021: Seguin would play three games in 2020-21, returning to the Stars for a game against the Florida Panthers for the first time since undergoing a right hip arthroscopy and labral repair after the run to the Final in the 2020 playoffs. He scored in his return and again two days later in a game against the Lightning.

“We had a few games left in the season, we were chasing down Nashville (in the Discover Central Division), we were down by (three points with a game in hand). I was trying to come back around then and then it was like, ‘Hey, I’m coming back now or I’m not.’ Any time you miss a lot of time, that first game there’s lots of emotions going through you, especially after rehabs and stuff. You think about the journey it took to get to that point. You just realize how much you love this damn game with all the heartbreak and the opportunity and the emotions that come with it. You appreciate it even more when you’re out for a long period of time.”

Tyler Seguin celebrates with Matt Duchene and Mason Marchment on April 16, 2025, the final day of the regular season. He had not played since Dec. 1.

April 16, 2025: Seguin returned for the final game of the regular season in 2024-25, four months after he had surgery on his left hip on Dec. 5. He missed 58 games.

“This one was probably one of my most proud rehabs. I was ahead of the game, where I knew what the process would be like from having my other hip done. Once I did the surgery, I came out and they said I had the full labrum tear, the same thing, similar to the one I had before, but what was different was I had this hip capsule fracture. With this, they did a second time in the surgery, taking out a piece of bone. I was actually a little mad at the surgeon -- I told him I wanted him to freeze it so I could make it a necklace, but he said he wasn’t legally allowed to do that.”

Seguin laughed.

“But what made this one cool was my surgeon was pretty adamant with me that this is going to be like a six-month recovery, this was a little more intense than my last hip or your typical hip. But I was confident that I had had it done a few years ago, I knew the process, I knew how slow and meticulous it was. I set myself up a little bit better where I kept myself around the players, I came to all the home games. The (rehab) before, I went back to Toronto, I was kind of locked in a basement, in COVID, and so even mentally I was a little bit more solid and structured and, with all that, we were having a baby, there was a pretty incredible distraction away from the rehab.”

Wren Katherine Seguin, Seguin’s first child, was born on January 16.

“So I was most proud of the timeline the surgeon gave me and then coming back in four months and two weeks -- the surgeon gave me his personal record of another player and I beat it by like three days, so that part was cool for me. Those were all goals that I was hunting for. But then it was about coming back and feeling better than the time I did before and being about to produce-slash-help the team. So that’s where the pride came in and coming back for that Nashville game, just how hard it was to get to that point, then starting the playoffs the following game.”

With his months-old daughter in attendance for the first time, Tyler Seguin battles the Colorado Avalanche in Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round last season.

April 19, 2025: It was Game 1 of the playoffs, with the Stars opening at American Airlines Center against the Colorado Avalanche. They would lose this game 5-1, but would beat the Avalanche in seven games, eventually making it to the Western Conference Final against the Edmonton Oilers, losing in five games. But Game 1 marked Wren Seguin’s first NHL game.

“It was emotional in warmups. I think I was more nervous than I would be for like a really big game. There’s been years in my life, in my career, I think really since the beginning when I’ve seen kids in the locker room of older players, running around postgame, things like that, where I’ve always dreamed I’d be in that situation. Maybe it’s a Christmas skate and guys are out there with their kids. I’m the oldest with two sisters and I’ve always dreamed of that, having kids and having a family and to finally be there, and having that night when I knew she’d be on the glass, that was definitely an emotional feeling. A little bit more than just your typical game so, yeah, that was something I’ll never forget.”