These resignings were inevitable, but it did take a long time for them to come together. Patrice Bergeron has officially resigned with the Boston Bruins for 1-year, worth $2.25M and David Krejci for 1-year, $1M.
I’m actually surprised that these deals were signed this late into the free agency window. I know the Bruins needed to clear up some cap space, but it took them two months to free up a few million dollars in cap? That seems like a really long time.
Anyway, I’m also kind of shocked that Krejci and Bergeron are coming back to start the season. The Bruins (I’m guessing) were going to be really bad without Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy, Mat Grezlcyk, and Mike Reilly all on injured reserve for the first few months and Bergeron and Krejci retired. However, Bergeron and Krejci’s return will certainly help prevent an utter tank of the team.
But I don’t think even their contributions will be enough to save the Bruins’ season.
A “retool” of this roster is necessary considering that Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand are both into their mid/late 30’s. A year as one of the worst teams in the NHL could have served this team a lot of good for the future as this upcoming draft is supposed to be extremely deep in the center position. A position they need depth in badly.
After Bergeron and Krejci, the next best center on this team is the newly acquired and signed Pavel Zacha (who also resigned today for 1-year, $3.25M). Yeah, Pavel Zacha (a player who hasn’t hit 40 points in a single season in 7 years) is the next best center after the 37-year-old Bergeron and the 36-year-old Krejci. That isn’t good enough.
Zacha is a good player, more than capable of being a solid 3rd-line center, but someone more offensively minded is needed to replace Krejci and Bergeron when they retire. A Top-12 draft pick could have been the guy to do that.
Nevertheless, I don’t think that the Bruins will be that bad next season to warrant a Top-12 pick. If they go around .500 in the first half of the season, then they should have enough fire power coming off IR to make the playoffs. If they go around .375 or worse, then I’d keep McAvoy and Marchand on IR for the rest of the season and pray Bergeron and Krejci come back for one last season.
We’ll have to wait and see if Bergeron and Krejci’s return can propel this injury-battered Bruins roster into their 7th straight playoff appearance.
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