For most players who went to Europe during the lockout, it was just business: an opportunity to make a paycheck and stay in shape until the NHL returned. But for Tyler Seguin, it was something much more monumental: it was the first time in the young Bruins star's life he's ever lived on his own. And if a Swiss tabloid report is to be believed, he didn't do so well.
Seguin's time with EHC Biel started off so well—he was greeted by a large banner that read "We won't suck your dick, but welcome to the world's best city." (That's in reference to this doctored image.) He had a friend on the team in Blackhawks star Patrick Kane. And while Kane stayed out of trouble, thanks to his mother moving to Switzerland to live with him, it seems Seguin could have used a little help.
The report comes from Swiss paper Blick, a tabloid through-and-through (it's the kind of paper that made a photoshop to accompany the story). They spoke with the cleaning company hired to clean up Seguin's rented apartment. As translated by The Local:
"The parquet floor was littered with coins worth 220 francs [$238]," Blick reported.
Coca-cola bottles, garbage and dirty linen lay scattered across the floor, while rotten bananas were left on a table, the newspaper said.
The bathroom was a shambles and the cleaning company spent a full day tidying the apartment.
In December, when Seguin returned to America, the staff were met with a similar stiff challenge.
Blick said the hockey player was "not versed in appliances" and as a result tried to wash his clothes in the dryer.
"He also did not know how to operate the dishwasher . . . when he ran out of clean plates, glasses and cutlery, he bought plastic tableware."
Marc Lüpold, the managing director of the cleaning company, was diplomatic about the revelations.
"You could tell it was the first time a young, single man had an apartment," Lüpold told Blick.
(I still urge you to read the German-language report, because it contains lines like ""Lockout-Star hinterliess Chaos" and "Tyler Seguin war der wohl spektakulärste Lockout-Gast" and calls him "a compulsive hoarder.")
Seguin is still just 20 years old, and has never lived anywhere but at home and with teammates. Living on his own in Switzerland was an important waypoint on the path to being a man. Seguin took that valuable life experience, crumpled it up, and threw it on the floor.
Update: Tyler Seguin responds