Admittedly I am not sure of the wording of the award. If it is the top all-around player that isn't a top-liner then I would say Seguin in a virtual landslide. If it is simply the player most surpassing expectations then Kelly is a good pick, as would Cambell. Ah screw it,  I need to look up the award.
Posted by BlazeTrailer

In Response to Re: How does Chris Kelly not win 7th player? : Nice try, but I think most people expected a pretty good jump from Seguin this year point wise. Kelly has 20 goals, kills penalties and did a nice job when players were injured. Seguins had a great year, but I expect that from a #2 overall pick in his second full season. My point is, they won the Cup, now you have people at games because it's the "in" thing, pink hats voting for Seguin because they think he is cute. What did you expect from Seguin this year? What did you expect from Kelly? Whats the definition of the 7th Player award? Now when they hand out the awards for this years best players on the team Saturday, I fully expect Seguin to get some hardware and not Kelly.
Posted by kelvana33

"NESN’s Seventh Player Award is an annual award presented to the Bruin who went above and beyond the call of duty and exceeded the expectations of Bruins fans during the 2011-12 season." 7th player refers to the fans, not the 7th best player, as some have implied on this thread. Kelly's been awesome and would deserve the award just fine, but I don't think he has greatly exceeded my expectations. I watched him a lot in his Ottawa days and his game is pretty similar. As I said, he's only just matched his career year. He's been the best I expected, but I'm not really surprised. You seem to think that the voting was impacted by pinkhats. Well, what did our very knowledgeable, long-time Bruins fans here on this board expect of him? Let's see: http://www.boston.com/community/forums.html?plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat%3aSportsForum%3a0d190bb9-6882-4397-9ce1-e66db723d396Discussion%3a0e395497-a806-4383-a2c7-829a6a23552c&plckCurrentPage=1 http://www.boston.com/community/forums.html?plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat%3aSportsForum%3a0d190bb9-6882-4397-9ce1-e66db723d396Discussion%3a2e706b93-839e-417d-b7e4-f8d43bed0df4&plckCurrentPage=0 Most seemed to settle in around N-a-S's thought of 25-20-45 pts this season, or maybe as much as 55pts. Stanley was pretty bang on with thinking 60-70pts, but hey, he is a flawless predictor. Of course he did think Pouliot would get 55pts.... There were also comments about people wanting Tyler to develop a better all-around game. I think a lot were surprised to see him be a +/- leader. I said back in the summer that I wouldn't put any limit on Seguin's production. He's incredibly talented. I'm not shocked at all that he has put up close to 70 points. I am pleased that he has gotten this good this fast, and he is certainly playing at the high end of expectations. He also was truly exceeding my expectations a bit when he was on pace for upwards of 100 points early in the season. Bottom line though is I think Tyler Seguin surprised a lot of people by emerging as the Bruins points leader, the NHL +/- leader for much of the season and an All-Star.  No one would be shocked that he would one day do that, but reading comments from the summer few people thought he would be the top scorer as early as this season. Less people are surprised that Kelly was a solid penalty killer, good all-around guy and put up 30-40 points as he usually does. He was also great filling in for injuries in Ottawa. When Spezza went down for a time Kelly was great filling in with Alfredson and Heatley, so much so that they didn't put Spezza back with them right away... not unlike Krejci this year. That lead to Kelly's 38 point season. Personally I'm not all that surprised by anyone this year. My biggest surprises have been Hamill actually playing some games and Rolston lighting it up after the trade. Rolston would get my 7th player. To think he could come in and actually improve the team, not just be a spare, is way above the call of duty. Of course he hasn't been here long. In Response to Re: How does Chris Kelly not win 7th player? :
Posted by OatesCam

the "surprise" factor seems to be what shapes opinion on this one.  Those that are surprised with Seguins game this year, seem to think it was well deserved, while those who aren't surprised with his growth seem to think maybe it should have gone to a lesser talent who over delivered. I'm one who kind of assumed the 7th player was originally meant to honor "unsung heroes" more than team all stars, but never thought that much about it, or was interested enough to research it.
Posted by stevegm

"How does Chris Kelly not win 7th player?" Ist place - Tyler Seguin 2nd place - Justin Bieber 3rd place - Hannah Montana
Posted by JWensink

2 words Teenage Girls
Posted by seobrien

Not to keep stoking the Kelly/Seguin debate about expectations but there is a somewhat interesting article with a quick blurb on Seguin: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=625919 Apparently Tyler was rated 215th in the fantasy draft at the begining of the year but is now 24th which makes him, in their estimation, the biggest surprise of the year. Kelly was not mentioned in the piece by they way....:)
Posted by jaywall

In Response to Re: How does Chris Kelly not win 7th player? : really encouraging to see posters contributing like this.  our position here shouldn't be to merely defend personal thoughts, but to read things that heighten our awareness. An interesting piece.  thanks
Posted by stevegm

The stats are all nice, however, big picture and "exceeding expectations" is what ultimately defines the 7th player award IMHO.  Seguin is a #2 pick (debatable #1) overall that was expected to produce his numbers.  I'd be more in the Seguin camp if he had 35+ goals. Kelly, you would anticipate might get 10 goals in a good year. For him to get 20 was a lot more surprising than the total Seguin got. 
Posted by lucdufour

In Response to Re: How does Chris Kelly not win 7th player? : did you not read what I wrote? I already mentioned Joe Thorton (#1 overall pick) winning in 2000, as well as showed that Chris Kelly didn't outperform his previous careers bests in any spectacular way. As far as your claim that Kelly, "might get 10 goals in a good year"-- he's had at least  10 goals or more in every season he's played in the NHL: 2005-2006   10 goals 2006-2007   15 goals  2007-2008   11 goals 2008-2009   12 goals 2009-2010   15 goals 2010-2011   14 goals 2011-2012   20 goals I've also pointed out, that Kelly barely improved in several key categories that are more revealing of his overall game than simply goals scored... Seguin, on the other hand, has showed exponential improvement in every category of his play.
Posted by Olsonic