Patrice Bergeron retires; What do Bruins do now?
The Patrice Bergeron Era is over. The Bruins legend and future Hockey Hall of Famer announced his retirement on Tuesday, bringing to an end a remarkable 19-year NHL career spent entirely in Boston.
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The day that Bergeron decided to retire was always going to be a line of demarcation for the Bruins, and now that day has officially arrived.
There is the bigger, organization-level picture, where the Bruins will now transition to whatever the post-Bergeron era is going to look like, including selecting a new captain.
There is also the smaller but no less important on-ice picture, where the Bruins now face the long-dreaded task of replacing their longtime No. 1 center, and quite possibly their longtime No. 2 center as well if David Krejci joins Bergeron in moving on.
Let’s take a look at how the Bruins will approach both, starting with the bigger picture.
Bergeron was a Hall of Fame player on the ice, but also a Hall of Fame person and leader off it. While he was technically Boston’s captain for just three seasons, Bergeron was more of a co-captain to Zdeno Chara than a true alternate captain for the vast majority of the 14 years he wore an ‘A.’
Chara was the one who demanded a new culture and team work ethic when he arrived in 2006, but Bergeron was right alongside him to help make it stick and lay the foundation that would help the Bruins win their first Stanley Cup in 39 years in 2011.
Bergeron exemplified and helped maintain that culture of respect, accountability, hard work and both mental and physical toughness for more than 15 years. The Bruins made the playoffs in 14 of the last 16 seasons, won at least one playoff round in nine of those seasons, and reached two more Stanley Cup Finals in 2013 and 2019.
Sure, it is absolutely fair to say that the Bergeron-era Bruins left at least one and maybe two Cups on the table. Losing Game 7 on home ice in 2019 and collapsing in the first round this spring after a record-setting regular season stand out as the most obvious regrets.
It’s also fair to say that the Bruins were contenders who competed hard and gave their fans hope far more often than not over the last 20 years. If you’re old enough to remember the lean years that came before Bergeron and Chara, you know that’s something that should not be dismissed or taken for granted.
Of course, declaring this the end of an era does not necessarily mean there’s a clean break between everything that came before and everything that’s to come. Brad Marchand, Bergeron’s longtime linemate, friend and alternate captain, is still here, and is the odds-on favorite to inherit the ‘C.’ His presence will help make sure the lessons learned from Bergeron are not soon forgotten.
Charlie McAvoy and David Pastrnak, the pillars of the Bruins’ next core, learned from Bergeron for more than half a decade. They will also be expected to take on more of a leadership role now. Both will likely wear an ‘A,’ with the ‘C’ on the horizon for one of them in the not-too-distant future.
Milan Lucic is back to help lead and set the tone as well. Veteran free-agent signings James van Riemsdyk and Kevin Shattenkirk can help pick up some slack, too. Brandon Carlo, Charlie Coyle, Hampus Lindholm and Matt Grzelcyk are key veterans who all can and should step up.
In the immediate future, replacing Bergeron on the ice may prove even tougher. If Krejci also retires or returns to Europe – and that seems like the most probable outcome – the Bruins’ top two centers will be Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle.
Zacha looked like a player who’s ready to take on a top-two center role during a breakout 57-point season last year, and having at least one of Pastrnak or Marchand, maybe both, on his wings will certainly help. But slotting in behind Bergeron for a year undoubtedly would have been an easier transition than immediately getting thrust into the No. 1 spot.
Coyle also filled in admirably during the playoffs when Bergeron and Krejci were both out of the lineup for a couple games, but his game has generally been better suited to a third-line role than a top-six role. If the Bruins don’t add a bona fide top-two center this offseason, they will have no choice but to move Coyle up.
Behind Zacha and Coyle, Morgan Geekie and Trent Frederic (a restricted free agent who still needs a new contract) are the most obvious candidates to center the third line. Whichever one doesn’t center the line will be a wing on it. Both had strong 5-on-5 rate stats in lower-minute roles last season, but whether they can maintain that level of production in bigger roles, and against tougher competition, remains to be seen.
Free-agent signing Patrick Brown offers a Tomas Nosek-like safety net on the fourth line, while youngsters like Georgii Merkulov, Johnny Beecher and Marc McLaughlin now have more of an opening to push for NHL jobs during training camp and preseason.
General manager Don Sweeney could still try to acquire a first- or second-line center before the season. Mark Scheifele and Elias Lindholm, two rumored trade candidates earlier this summer, remain unmoved in Winnipeg and Calgary, respectively. The trade chatter around them has quieted, though, and it seems more likely than not that they’ll stay put at this point. The reality is that the vast majority of offseason roster-building around the league has already been completed.
Whether it’s now or during the season or next offseason, when the Bruins will have more cap space and roster flexibility to work with, there is no doubt that Sweeney will have to explore every possible avenue to upgrade the center position. On paper, it is clearly now the Bruins’ biggest weakness when comparing their roster to the NHL’s best teams.
Merkulov and Matthew Poitras offer the most upside at the position among Boston’s prospect pool, but it’s extremely unlikely that either is ready for a top-six role now. Next season might be pushing it, too. Both still have some critical developing to do, and rushing either into a role they’re not ready for doesn’t do anyone any good.
The 2023-24 season was always going to be something of a transition year for the Bruins given their salary cap problems after going truly all-in last season. Bergeron’s retirement makes that transition a whole lot tougher.
They’re still too good of a team to throw around words like “rebuild” or “teardown.” Their defense and goaltending should remain among the best in the NHL. Pastrnak and Marchand can do a lot of heavy lifting offensively. This could and arguably should still be a playoff team.
But there will be a significant step back, and it’s unlikely the Bruins will return to the status of true Cup contender until or unless the center position is upgraded. Replacing Bergeron may be just about impossible, but Sweeney and the rest of the organization are now faced with giving it their best shot.