For 20 years, Patrice Bergeron met the physical demands of a brutal sport with grace, dignity and an unparalleled professionalism.
He retired pretty much the same way.
In a press availability at the Garden’s Legend club that was of the no-frills variety by request of the guest of honor – no tearful opening statement, no teammates ringing the room, no bon voyage cake – Bergeron nevertheless grinded through it in workmanlike fashion. He answered questions in English for nearly a half hour. He went almost as long in French. Then he took care of various broadcast hits. In fact, Bergeron was one of the last stragglers left in the cavernous room, shaking hands with long-time media acquaintances and various team personnel.
One could almost get the sense he was already missing it all, but he was just doing his job, to the very end. Bergeron was more than convincing when he said he knew the time was right for him to hang ’em up.
That 2022-23 was to be Bergeron’s last season seemed almost predestined when he signed his final contract last summer. He admitted he was leaning heavily toward retirement during the season and the fact that he was still very much the player we’d come to know – he captured his record sixth Selke Award last month – was part of his decision to leave now.
“There’s a lot of things that influenced me but the main thing is probably the body and spending more time with the family,” said Bergeron. “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 leave on top of my game, but also thinking about the future and knowing that I wanted to continue … being active and doing other things and other endeavors that I’ve always wanted to but never really had the time to do.”
It wasn’t so much that the game was any more challenging. If he didn’t retire, he’d be the unquestioned the Bruins’ top line center in 2023-24. But rather the longer preparation that was required to get himself ready to play the games was what helped him call it a career. Though he’d been inclined to go this way since last August, he finally knew this summer, when the drive to ramp up his workouts was just no longer there.
“As you know, the preparation and the routine and the work, that regimen is important to be on top of your game and making sure you are doing the right things, and that motivation slowed down a little bit – I’m not going to lie – this summer. It’s almost like I was listening to my body,” said Bergeron.
Bergeron said that he let GM Don Sweeney and team president Cam Neely know he was leaning heavily toward retirement at the exit meetings, though the way the season ended – in a stunning seven-game loss to the Florida Panthers after a 65-win season – gave him some pause. He felt he needed to “let the dust settle” before he made a final decision.
“When the wound is fresh, you can’t make rational decisions,” said Bergeron. “You have to really make sure you think about things or at least give yourself time to let it come to you, and I felt like that’s what I did. There was a part of me that, yes, wanted to come back early on, but as it went on … the bigger part of me was always leaning towards that being my last year. I was trying to look at the big picture as well and not just be stuck in the ending.”
And so the Bergeron chapter of the Bruins’ story is now complete. He is off to be an Uber driver for his four children and decide with his wife Stephanie over the next year whether they want to make Boston or their native Quebec City area their permanent home. Bergeron will also use that time to figure out what he wants to do professionally, though he doesn’t suspect coaching will be a part of it.
Bergeron said that you “never say never” but that “for now I don’t have a want or a will to coach.”
What the next chapter for the B’s will be like is still a mystery.
After giving all the appropriate platitudes on Bergeron, Neely acknowledged that the team needs to improve the center position now with Bergeron and most likely David Krejci gone.
Asked if he and Sweeney will look outside the organization for that, Neely said, “We’ll do whatever we can to bolster that position.”
One way or another, the B’s will have a No. 1 center on their depth chart for opening night on Oct. 11 at the Garden. But Neely knows as well as anyone that whomever is slotted there, he will not replace Patrice Bergeron.