Remember last year when we were talking about the All-Brady Era Patriots Team? That was pretty fun. And with the NHL offseason hitting its August dead zone, we thought it would be interesting to bring that concept over to the Bruins and figure out what an All-Bergeron Era Bruins Team would look like.
The Patrice Bergeron era has lasted nearly as long as the Tom Brady era, beginning with the 2003-04 season, so there are a lot of players to choose from. Of course, the Bruins’ Bergeron era, unlike the Patriots’ Brady era, is not yet over. So, we acknowledge some of these spots could change a little over the next couple years.
But it’s still a fun exercise. On the most recent episode of The Skate Podcast, Brian DeFelice and I drafted, snake-style, our own All-Bergeron Era teams. You can listen to that episode and vote on who drafted the better team below. Then read on further for the full 20-man All-Bergeron Era roster.
We should note that the podcast draft was done more with the idea of what players brought at their peak, even if that was only for a season or two. For the team below, longevity matters a bit more.
Forwards
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - David Pastrnak
Milan Lucic - David Krejci - Nathan Horton
Michael Ryder - Marc Savard - Mark Recchi
Marco Sturm - Chris Kelly - Tyler Seguin
The top six is pretty straightforward. Bergeron has played the third-most games ever for the Bruins. Krejci has played the seventh-most. They’ve been the two rocks at the top of the Bruins lineup for a decade-plus.
The wings conveniently reflect the most successful lines both Bergeron and Krejci have played on. Marchand has been with Bergeron since the 2010-11 Stanley Cup season and is now in the Bruins’ all-time top 10 in goals, assists and points himself. They were already a great line no matter who was on their right, but they’ve hit new heights since Pastrnak’s arrival -- to the team in 2014-15 and to their line in 2016-17. In 2019-20, Pastrnak became the first Bruin to lead the NHL in goals since Phil Esposito.
Lucic-Krejci-Horton was the Bruins’ top line for the 2011 Cup run and then basically a co-top line with Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin for two more years after that. Lucic spent eight seasons in Boston and topped 20 goals three times. Horton played just three years here, but scored some of the biggest goals in Bruins history during the 2011 Cup run -- the Game 5 overtime winner against Montreal, the Game 7 overtime winner against Montreal, and the lone goal in a 1-0 Game 7 win over Tampa.
Savard as the third-line center is easy. If it weren’t for Matt Cooke, he may have ended up even higher in the lineup. The Bruins’ 2006 signings of Savard and Chara completely changed the trajectory of the franchise, and Savard’s 96 points in 2007-08 and 88 points in 2008-09 still rank above any of Bergeron or Krejci’s single-season point totals.
Ryder was the ultimate third-liner during his three years in Boston -- first with Krejci and Blake Wheeler and then with Kelly and Rich Peverley during the 2011 Cup run -- so it’s fitting that he’s on the third line here. The guy also stepped up in the postseason, recording 13 points in 11 games in 2009 and 17 in 25 in 2011, scoring the Game 4 overtime winner against Montreal in the 2011 first round, and making the best glove save of this whole era.
Recchi vs. Seguin is close. Both were here three years, and Seguin’s high (a 67-point season in 2011-12) was higher, but Recchi gets the edge for being a bigger part of the 2011 Cup team and for being an alternate captain on that team.
Fourth-line center was tough. Joe Thornton was still here for the start of Bergeron’s career, but they had less than a season and a half together. Thornton’s great Bruins seasons prior to that don’t fit in our “Bergeron era” parameters, so we’ll go with Kelly, who spent five and a half years in Boston. The acquisitions of Kelly and Peverley in 2011 reshaped their third line and proved critical during the Cup run. Kelly later became an alternate captain for the Bruins.
Finally, let’s not forget about Sturm, who overcame the fact that he was involved in the awful Thornton trade to put together a nice five years in Boston and become a fan favorite anyways. He had 193 points in 302 games with the Bruins, played on lines with Bergeron, Krejci and Savard, scored a late winner against Montreal in the 2008 first round, and scored the overtime winner in the 2010 Winter Classic.
Honorable mentions: Left wings P.J. Axelsson, Jake DeBrusk; Centers Joe Thornton, Rich Peverley, Charlie Coyle, Gregory Campbell; Right wings Phil Kessel, Jarome Iginla, Shawn Thornton, Brad Boyes, Glen Murray (his monster 92-point season came the year before Bergeron arrived)
Defense
Zdeno Chara - Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug - Dennis Seidenberg
Andrew Ference - Johnny Boychuk
Chara is obviously the lock of all locks. Team captain for 14 years, one of the best defensemen in the league for the vast majority of them, sixth in franchise history in games played, Norris Trophy in 2009.
McAvoy is behind the rest of this group in terms of years and games played, but it’s safe to say that through his first four seasons, he’s already the second-best defenseman of the Bergeron era. He became the natural successor to Chara as the team’s No. 1 defenseman, taking the baton from his one-time D partner before Chara even departed for Washington last year. His two top-10 Norris finishes are the only two non-Chara top-10 finishes by a Bruins defenseman in the last 18 years.
The second pairing features arguably the best offensive Bruins defenseman of this era (Krug) and one of the best shutdown defensemen (Seidenberg). Krug’s 335 points across his seven full seasons in Boston (2013-20) were seventh-most among NHL defensemen during that time, and he became an elite power-play quarterback. Seidenberg spent six and a half years in Boston and frequently teamed up with Chara on a shutdown top pairing in the postseason, including playing more than 27 minutes per game during the 2011 Cup run.
Ference and Boychuk were consistent, second-pairing, 20-minute-a-night defensemen throughout their time in Boston (six and a half years for Ference, five for Boychuk) who also happened to be the Bruins’ actual second pairing during both the 2011 Cup run and the 2013 run to the Cup Final. Both also developed into team leaders, especially Ference, who would eventually get an ‘A’ on his sweater.
Honorable mentions: Dougie Hamilton, Brandon Carlo, Adam McQuaid, Dennis Wideman (take a look back at his 2008-09 season before you laugh)
Goalie
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask
Obviously, these are the only two goalies in the conversation. Rask holds a number of Bruins records, including career wins and career playoff wins. He won the Vezina Trophy in 2014 and finished in the top five two other times. And despite what his haters would like you to believe, he has generally been very good in the postseason, owning the ninth-best playoff save percentage in history (.925).
But Thomas gets the nod as the starter because his highs were just higher. Two Vezinas in 2009 and 2011, leading the NHL in save percentage both times. Conn Smythe Trophy as postseason MVP in 2011, leading the Bruins to their first Cup in 39 years with a .940 save percentage in 25 games, including a ridiculous .967 mark against Vancouver in the Cup Final. He still owns the record for best career playoff save percentage (.933).
Honorable mentions: None, but shoutout to Andrew Raycroft for winning the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2003-04 and for also landing the Bruins Rask via trade.
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