Boston Bruins: Tyler Seguin Will Play a Big Offensive Role in 2011-12 Season

The Boston Bruins will be looking for young forward Tyler Seguin to play a bigger role in the offense this season, after the winger had a good regular season and a great playoffs last year.

With all of his offensive talent and a likely increase in ice time, Seguin should be able to score 30 goals for the Bruins this season.

Seguin scored 11 goals with 11 assists for 22 points last season, and in his first two career playoff games, he had three goals and three assists. He finished the postseason with seven points.

With Mark Recchi retirement, there is an open spot at wing on the second line alongside Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand.

Seguin would really benefit from the exquisite passing ability of Bergeron, and his smooth and graceful skating would compliment Marchand's gritty, physical play.

Fans saw the potential Seguin has last season in spurts, as he was never able to put long stretches of consistent success together.

Some of that can be blamed on head coach Claude Julien, who doesn't play rookies a lot and also doesn't give ice time to guys that don't play well defensively.

This season, Julien will have no choice to give Seguin more minutes. Seguin has the ability to be a top goal scorer and one of the NHL's best offensive players.

After only one year with the Bruins, it's clear he is the most offensively skilled player on the team. 

For one, he is the fastest player on the Bruins. Seguin also has the best sniping ability and is a very good passer.

Seguin also has the awareness that top players have, and he knows where his teammates are on the ice at all times. With this unique skill set, Seguin could be a franchise player for the Bruins for the next decade.

With all of the talent Seguin has, one of the most important parts of his development is his confidence.

Seguin showed he wasn't afraid of the bright lights during the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs and rose to the challenge by playing a major role in the Bruins series win against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference finals.

Seguin knows his teammates have confidence in him and that the coaching staff does as well.

This will allow him to be more comfortable next season, and the start of the year will be filled with less pressure than last season.

Another impressive part about Seguin is his maturity. At age 19 he showed he was a mature teammate who never complained about his lack of playing time or being a healthy scratch through the first two rounds of the playoffs.

He said all the right things and wasn't critical of the coaching staff. This kind of maturity and character is something many young kids who are drafted very high normally don't have in their rookie season.

Seguin respected the veterans and learned a lot from them and in doing so, earned the respect of his teammates.

The future is now for the Bruins and Tyler Seguin. The team is defending the Stanley Cup for the first time in 39 years, and there is a new excitement around the city of Boston in the Bruins.

The Bruins will continue to get better as a team this season, and that improvement will led by Seguin's development as a goal scorer.

Nicholas Goss is a Boston Bruins featured columnist for Bleacher Report, and was the organization's on-site reporter for the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals in Boston. Follow him on Twitter for Bruins & NHL news and analysis. Follow @NicholasGoss35