• last year
Boston Bruins captain, Patrice Bergeron is retiring after 19 seasons in the NHL. Announced on Tuesday in a statement, Bergeron looked back with deep appreciation on his time with the Bruins.

“It is with a full heart and a lot of gratitude that today I am announcing my retirement as a professional hockey player," said Bergeron.

Bruins Beat host Evan Marinofsky reacts to the retirement!

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Transcript
00:00 Bruins Beat is brought to you by FanDuel, the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS
00:04 Media Network.
00:07 And welcome into an emergency Bruins Beat slash Bruins Rinkside exclusive video with
00:14 the recent news of Patrice Bergeron announcing his retirement.
00:19 This video is brought to you by FanDuel.
00:21 Go to our friends at FanDuel.com/Boston to get up to $200 in bonus bets.
00:27 Yesterday, Conor Ryan and I recorded Bruins Beat.
00:31 The title was, what if Patrice Bergeron retires?
00:35 And on Tuesday morning, the Bruins published an essay that Patrice Bergeron wrote explaining
00:41 his retirement and thanking the people that have got him to this point.
00:48 The big question is, am I surprised by this?
00:52 Yes and no.
00:53 I think I am surprised in the sense of how good he still was, even at his age, still
00:58 a number one center, won his sixth Selkie in June.
01:03 We all expected if he came back, he was going to be the number one center.
01:07 He was going to be between Marchand and DeBrusque or whoever else.
01:12 So in that sense, I'm surprised.
01:14 But there's also the other thing.
01:16 Not really that surprised when you kind of zoom out and look at the whole scope of it,
01:22 but when the season ended and they lost to Florida, you saw the embraces he had for his
01:27 teammates and granted he did a similar thing in Carolina at the end of the 21-22 season.
01:34 But this was different.
01:35 I don't know.
01:36 There was something different to this.
01:38 And you also look at 19 seasons he's been playing since 2003, the amount of injuries
01:44 he's racked up.
01:45 I mean, obviously everybody points to the 2013 Stanley Cup final where he played through
01:49 like every possible ailment.
01:51 But you also look at the concussion in 2007 and how just how that could have gone so bad,
01:58 so fast.
01:59 And to think that from that he became a first ballot Hall of Famer is just incredible.
02:05 But he's older and there's a lot of miles on that body.
02:08 We said it last offseason.
02:10 So a lot of wear and tear.
02:14 And so for that sense, I mean, I did think he was coming back as the offseason rolled
02:18 along.
02:19 I mean, things were panning out as it would make sense for him to come back.
02:22 But obviously, you know, there's the other side of it, as I just alluded to.
02:28 Now, as for the legacy of Patrice Bergeron, I mean, the ultimate pro.
02:34 We say that a lot in sports, you know, guys, an ultimate pro is the consummate pro.
02:38 But this was a pros pro, just all around incredible professional athlete.
02:46 I mean, I'll ask the question, has anyone been so perfect?
02:50 Has anyone has anyone been so perfect on and off the ice, played the right way?
02:57 Just the ultimate two way center.
03:00 Just I mean, the fact that there are defensive highlights of his on YouTube, and those are
03:05 almost more exciting than a lot of offensive highlights for most players, always found
03:09 a way to produce, always found a way to contribute.
03:13 And then off the ice.
03:14 I mean, he said all the right things.
03:16 He did all the right things.
03:17 Good guy, thoughtful guy.
03:20 And I'm ecstatic to see what he does in his post playing career, because I think, you
03:24 know, the world is his oyster.
03:25 I think he can sort of do what he wants.
03:28 You know, does he does he stay involved with the team?
03:31 You know, does he do something in hockey?
03:34 You know, does he become a team president, a general manager?
03:38 You know, I think there's a lot of options there for him to do.
03:41 And there were similar things we said with Chara when Chara retired.
03:46 I think the legacy he leaves, you know, when I was kind of drafting this episode, mini
03:52 episode out before coming on, you know, you look at his impact on the last 20 years.
03:58 But I think it's very easy to also say his legacy and his impact on the Bruins culture
04:03 is going to last for the next 20 years.
04:06 And I think that's most impressive.
04:08 I think that is, you know, to do that in the NHL, to have the the continued success.
04:15 I mean, since 2003, the amount of success regular season and going into the playoffs
04:20 will get to the Stanley Cup thing in a second.
04:22 But just looking at consistency, it was incredible.
04:26 And he was the leader of that, along with Zidane Ochara.
04:29 Obviously, David Creechie is involved in that.
04:31 Brad Marchand is involved in that.
04:32 You get the Mark Recchi in there.
04:35 But Bergeron's at the front of that.
04:37 And, you know, the legacy, the ability to change the culture here.
04:42 I mean, I know Chara was instrumental in that, as I said, but Bergeron's a large part of
04:46 it.
04:47 And it's interesting because, you know, even though Chara was always the captain, Bergeron
04:50 is an assistant.
04:52 They were really co-captains.
04:53 They were always co-captains.
04:55 And that's what it felt like.
04:56 And Bergeron was Boston's own.
04:59 Drafted him, developed him, you know, came up, I think, as an 18 year old kid, had immediate
05:04 success.
05:05 And, you know, I think Boston has had the ups and downs with Patrice Bergeron and his
05:11 injuries in his career, as I mentioned, the concussion in 2007 and all of that.
05:16 So and his ability to lead, the ability to lead, you know, just the it's hard to I don't
05:23 think it's hard to find a better captain than him.
05:25 And, you know, the example he set again, there were guys around him that that helped, obviously,
05:33 you know, I'm not diminishing anyone's contributions to it.
05:36 I mean, Chara, as I said, co-captain.
05:38 So you're having Chara there was helpful and Marchand.
05:41 But I mean, even Marchand, you look at Bergeron's impact on Marchand alone, right?
05:44 Like Marchand comes in, you know, probably a projected fourth liner, maybe jumps to the
05:50 third line and sort of with Bergeron's guidance, he helps guide him into being, you know, a
05:55 legitimate scoring threat.
05:57 And on top of that helps kind of his maturity.
06:00 And you could probably point to a lot of different guys.
06:02 I mean, you hear the stories of, you know, even guys who are healthy scratches who come
06:06 to Boston for a year kind of mentioning how the impact Patrice Bergeron had on them.
06:10 So the culture, he set the legacy, how good of a leader he was.
06:16 I think it you know, I don't think it's a stretch to say we probably won't see someone
06:20 like Patrice Bergeron ever again.
06:23 Just the all encompassing of perfect play style, perfect guy off the ice.
06:29 And just kind of the whole package was Patrice Bergeron.
06:44 The one thing is one more cup would have been nice.
06:48 One more cup would have been nice.
06:49 I know no one's gonna want to hear that right now, but it's the truth.
06:52 I mean, the 2011 Stanley Cup, you know, will be historic and live forever and adds to his
06:58 legacy a ton.
06:59 If they just could have pulled out one in 2019 or 2013, I think it just adds more.
07:05 And that goes for Chara.
07:07 That goes for Craychee.
07:08 It goes for Marshaun unless he wins another like it just would have been perfect for this
07:13 Bruins core with Patrice Bergeron at the front of it to get a second cup to get a second
07:18 Stanley Cup.
07:20 And you know, one is awesome.
07:24 And again, we point to the regular season success.
07:26 We point to the playoff runs.
07:28 They certainly had a number of those.
07:30 I just think one more Stanley Cup would have been really nice.
07:33 And that's not Bergeron's fault.
07:35 It's a team game.
07:36 But I think if we could say, oh, you know, 2011 and 2019 or 2011 2013, I just think it
07:42 helps.
07:43 He's still a first ballot Hall of Famer.
07:44 He's still everyone's favorite Bruin, at least as of today.
07:49 I think, you know, it's, you know, I saw some people on Twitter saying, you know, they had
07:53 favorite Bruins in the past, you know, Ray Bork and Johnny Bucic and Bobby Orr.
07:57 But Bergeron almost, you know, is either right there with him or moved, you know, ahead for
08:03 in some people's eyes.
08:04 I'm not going to get into the history debate of debating Bergeron versus Bobby Orr and
08:10 stuff.
08:11 We're not that can be for another day.
08:12 That can be another day we can do.
08:16 But again, one more cup just would have been nice.
08:18 That's it.
08:19 One more cup would have been.
08:20 That's my only thing.
08:21 That's that's that's not him.
08:22 It's not you know, that's not a him thing.
08:24 That's a team thing.
08:26 The big question coming from this, where do the Bruins go from here?
08:32 And we caught it.
08:33 I kind of touched on it in in the podcast we recorded on Monday, which is up on audio
08:40 wise.
08:41 I don't know if it's up on YouTube yet or not, if we're even going to put it up.
08:44 But I know if you want to go listen to it, you can go look up Bruins Beat an Apple podcast
08:47 or Spotify or wherever you get your podcast, because it's it'll be there.
08:52 Where do the Bruins go from here?
08:55 It doesn't help.
08:57 It does not help.
08:59 But again, this is sort of an issue on the Bruins end that they've had years to sort
09:03 of try to figure out what is life going to be like post Bergeron.
09:07 And again, we assume crazy, you know, right now, as it stands, you know, it's Coyle and
09:12 Zaka as your one and two center.
09:17 Again, that's not ideal.
09:20 We've talked about this.
09:21 I think Charlie Coyle can kind of hold his own there.
09:24 He has not proven yet that he can be a number one center.
09:28 He's had a tough time staying in the top six in general.
09:31 So, you know, and he's optimized best as a third line center.
09:35 Now, you know, if they do nothing else, they're going to need him to step up and be a number
09:40 one center.
09:42 Going forward, I think the number one goal, though, is how do you either acquire a number
09:46 one center?
09:48 Or how do you acquire a first round pick?
09:50 You know, this is much harder.
09:51 How do you acquire a first round pick to then try to get a first to get a potential one
09:55 C?
09:57 And again, that center, if you're getting, you know, if you go the draft route, that
10:00 center might not be coming in for another two to three years, maybe more.
10:05 And it's also no guarantee that your draft pick, whether it, you know, wherever it is
10:09 in the first round can pan out to be a number one center.
10:14 With the core they have in place, again, Pasternak, McAvoy, Lindholm, Swayman, you know, it's
10:21 you know, you want to include all mark in that want to include Carlo, Zaka, like there's
10:26 a solid core.
10:27 They don't need to blow this up.
10:28 There's no reason to blow things up here.
10:31 I don't want to see any tweets or comments be like, the Bruins need to tear it down.
10:36 A retool though would help.
10:38 And that's not tearing it down.
10:40 That is simply trading off some parts to get something that you need.
10:47 And that's the number one center.
10:48 So that's the safer route.
10:49 The safer route is if you can put some pieces together, whether it's now, whether it's down
10:56 the road, trading for a number one center, whether that's, you know, again, the obvious
11:01 names are now are like Elias Lindholm from the Calgary Flames, Mark Scheifele from the
11:04 Winnipeg Jets.
11:07 But you know, the Bruins can be crafty.
11:09 There's other names out there and they could go that route, you know.
11:15 So I think that's the smarter move.
11:17 I think you have Pavel Zaka as your 2C.
11:20 You have Zaka there.
11:22 You don't desperately need a 2C.
11:24 Now they might look at this season and say, you know what, you know, we have a good solid
11:28 core in place.
11:29 We just don't really have a number one center, but we're going to roll the dice and we're
11:33 going to see where Coyle and Zaka take us.
11:36 Maybe that's what they do because they don't have a heck of a ton of salary cap space and
11:39 the trade market's not great.
11:41 So even if you did trade off Olmark, you know, in a normal season, yeah, you probably get,
11:45 you know, a top six center for Olmark.
11:48 This season, you're probably not getting that.
11:50 So again, we'll, Connor Ryan and I and Joe Haggerty on the Pucks with Hags podcast and,
11:59 you know, whoever else we have on, we'll be discussing for the rest of the summer, where
12:03 do the Bruins go from here?
12:05 But you know, overall, I look at, you know, the main news, obviously, today, Patrice Bergeron
12:10 retiring, just incredible career.
12:12 And we've said it all.
12:13 I mean, that's the one thing I think that we can all be fortunate about with Patrice
12:16 Bergeron's career is I think towards the end, everyone understood and was appreciative and
12:24 no one took it for granted.
12:26 So I think there's always that.
12:27 And I mean, I, you know, again, I don't think we'll ever see someone like him.
12:31 I don't.
12:32 The well-roundedness, as I said, has just been incredible.
12:37 And it's been a hell of a career, hell of a career.
12:40 And, you know, even opposing fans, nobody, you know, you didn't root against Patrice
12:46 Bergeron.
12:47 You might have hated him when he played your team, but you respected him and you loved
12:50 watching him play because he just was that all around game that I think every youth hockey
12:57 player, every high school hockey player, every college hockey player, every NHL player should
13:01 be aspiring to to model their game after as a two way force.
13:06 And he embodied it like no other.
13:07 So that has been this sort of emergency episode of Bruins Beat.
13:12 Patrice Bergeron retires.
13:14 We'll have more throughout the rest of the offseason, throughout the rest of the week.
13:19 And before I go, I must say, have a great rest.
13:21 At least try your best to have a great rest of your week.
13:24 Thanks for having me.
13:25 I appreciate it.
13:26 Thanks for having me.
13:27 I appreciate it.
13:27 [Music]

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