Bergeron explains his decision to retire
After announcing his retirement from the NHL on Tuesday, Patrice Bergeron met with the Boston media on Wednesday to reflect on his 19-year Bruins career and explain what went into his decision.
Here are five takeaways:
1. Bergeron said that as early as last summer, when he signed a team-friendly one-year deal, he was leaning towards this past season being his last. He cited his family and the toll hockey had taken on his body as key factors in his decision.
“I don’t think I can say it was one thing, there was one particular time that made me really make that decision,” Bergeron said. “I think it was more, over time I knew that, when I signed this past summer, I knew it was one year. I was leaning that it might be my last year, so the whole year was kind of preparing for that. And over time the body and realizing that it was just time for me to kind of move on.
“There’s a lot of things that kind of influenced me but the main thing is probably the body and spending more time with the family. I’ve always wanted and told myself that for me, I wanted to play the game at the highest level that I could, and felt like I wanted to kind of leave on top of my game, but also thinking about the future and knowing that I wanted to continue to, being able to spend time with family but also being active and doing other things and other endeavors that I’ve always wanted to but never really had the time to do.”
Bergeron acknowledged that right after the Bruins’ disappointing first-round exit this spring, part of him wanted to come back so that wouldn’t be how it ends. But after he “let the dust settle” for a while, he found himself back in the same place he had been pretty much all season: Knowing deep down that he was done.
“I was trying to look at the big picture as well and not just be stuck in the ending and look at the whole thing,” he said. “Once I took a step back and I realized everything that I was fortunate to experience and live as a hockey player and as a person, I felt very lucky and grateful. For me, it kind of overweighed that and helped. I guess my decision didn’t really factor that in for that long.”
2. Bergeron said he hasn’t made any plans for the future other than to spend more time with his family, which now includes four kids after the birth of his son, Felix, earlier this month.
“It will be a nice change to just be able to be the Uber driver for the family for a little bit and just relax and that’s it,” Bergeron said.
Bergeron said his family will remain in Boston at least through this coming school year, but that they haven’t made any decisions about where they’re going to live beyond that. It would be either Boston or the Quebec City area, where both Bergeron and his wife, Stephanie, are from and where they both still have family.
Bruins president Cam Neely, who met with reporters after Bergeron’s press conference, said he would “love to see him stay involved with the organization,” so that is certainly one door that will be open for Bergeron if he wants to stay involved in hockey in some capacity. Just don’t expect it to be as a coach; Bergeron said that’s not something he sees “in the cards for now.”
3. Asked what he would want his legacy to be, Bergeron focused not on his play or his record-setting six Selke Trophies, but on being a role model, on his community work, and on the connections he made with people.
“What I’ve always tried to do is be a good role model for kids and younger generations, for my kids but also for anyone that watched the Bruins or a game,” he said. “And it was always important for me to be a good example and lead that way on and off the ice. I think the community work was really important for me.
“I’ve met so many amazing people throughout the years and it’s pretty special. So, I think the one thing I’ll definitely say is I left everything out there. I have no regrets on anything, and I gave my all. But to be remembered, I hope it’s more the connections and the way I was trying to get to know people personally, and to me that’s what matters most.”
4. As he did in the retirement message he shared on Tuesday, Bergeron expressed a ton of gratitude for everyone who helped him throughout his career. One person who got singled out in a question from a reporter and whom Bergeron was happy to talk about at length was Martin Lapointe, who took Bergeron under his wing during his rookie season in 2003-04.
“Marty has had a huge influence on me and my career,” Bergeron said. “Just being able to come in, I was an 18-year-old young adult and didn’t know much about the game, the pro sport, the city, you name it. I wasn’t familiar with it. Just the fact that he took me under his wing, and the influence that he had and the impact he’s had on me and on my career as well, on and off the ice. The fact that his family was so kind to me is something that I will always be grateful for.
“I took a moment yesterday to text him about that. I felt like yesterday and today is a day of gratitude for myself to go over everything that I’ve been through and the people that I’ve met and the people that have helped me, too, to get to this point. I think that’s what matters most to me right now, and that’s why I wrote this letter to make sure I was really taking the time to really address the people that influenced me, that made an impact, that made this happen, because, obviously, you don’t do this by yourself. I’ve been very fortunate and lucky to be around so many people. Marty was a huge influence, as I said, and I’ve always tried to emulate what he did to the young guys.”
5. Bergeron also reflected on the scariest time of his career, when it was temporarily derailed by concussion issues that began with a hit from behind from Flyers defenseman Randy Jones in Oct. 2007. Bergeron missed the rest of the 2007-08 season, then missed 18 more games during the 2008-09 season after suffering a second concussion in a collision with Hurricanes defenseman (and future teammate) Dennis Seidenberg.
“I think I knew in that particular moment, you’re more thinking about your future and just making sure you’re good to play,” Bergeron said. “So, it was a long journey and a long process, but then I think like the next year I started feeling better and knew I still had some work to do. I think over time I’ve always believed that I was going to find a way to get back on track and toward my goal and what I thought I could, we could accomplish as a team.
“So yeah, I think it took a few years. Lot of help obviously on the medical side, Dr. Steve Durant has been helping me since the beginning after the incident, and my family obviously, all the support I’ve had to get me back on track and better with myself mentally and physically.”
Bergeron said that having the game he loved ripped away from him for basically a full year made him appreciate playing in the NHL even more once he returned.
“I think that, and I’ve said it before, things happen for a reason,” he said. “Of course I’d like to change that moment, but at the same time I wouldn’t because it made me stronger and made me realize how thankful I am and grateful to be able to play that sport and, as I said before, my childhood dream. And it took that away from me for quite some time, so for every time in harder days or dog days of winter when it’s dark, I always try to go and appreciate practice or a workout or obviously the games. So it’s taught me a lot.”
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