Report: Bergeron and Krejci Retirement from Bruins Becoming More Likely

By: Lauren Spencer | Follow Me on Twitter: @laurenspenc

Recently, an excerpt from a report about the Bruins’ offseason by Fluto Shinzawa was shared on Twitter. This tweet from @Bruins_stats highlighted a crucial sentence that revealed that an anonymous teammate feels that both Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci will retire this offseason. Because both players signed one-season deals and are set to become unrestricted free agents, their future playing careers were always in question. However, hearing that both players may have potentially played their last games sent a shock through the online Bruins community.

After a disappointing end to this season, Bruins fans had an inkling that David Krejci would likely retire during the off-season. He had only signed a one-year deal and returned from Czechia for what seemed to be one last ride. Even though things turned out differently than the Bruins would have expected or hoped, there would have been no chance of the success that they had without Krejci. In 2022-2023, Krejci scored 56 points in 70 regular season games, from 16 goals and 40 assists. The Bruins also celebrated his 1,000^th NHL game this season, all of which had been played in a Bruins jersey.

The impact that Patrice Bergeron has had on the city of Boston is hard to put into words. He has cemented himself as one of the greats in NHL history, winning a Stanley Cup and five Selke Trophies, the most of all time. He has notched a total of 427 goals and 613 assists for 1,040 career points, eclipsing the 1,000 point mark during the 2022-23 season. He has been responsible for so many iconic moments in Boston history, with his 2013 Game Seven comeback overtime goal against the Maple Leafs coming to mind first. He has grown up within the Bruins organization after being drafted here twenty years ago. A leader in every sense of the word, Bergeron is the pride of the Bruins organization, and if this is his retirement, though well-deserved, it will sting.

The same report from Shinzawa also mentions that the Bruins will lose significant players to trades and free agency. One of the free agents that will likely walk is Connor Clifton, who had a rough playoff series against the Panthers, but has always been a dependable Bruin. Clifton just played his final year on a three-year/$ 3,000,000 contract and is likely to see a pay raise from the open market. Beyond Bergeron, Krejci, and Clifton, the Bruins’ unrestricted free agents also include Tyler Bertuzzi, Nick Foligno, Garnet Hathaway, Dmitry Orlov, and Tomas Nosek.

Shinzawa also speculated about trades the Bruins might make to clear cap space. The player that he highlighted as one of the most likely to be gone is defenseman Matt Grzelcyk. Though Grzelcyk has been with the Bruins organization his whole career, General Manager Don Sweeney will have to make tough choices about who stays for the future. With the cap situation, significant changes will have to be made to keep the team both competitive and cap compliant. Overall, we will be looking at a very different team come next fall.

If this does mark the end of the Bergeron and Krejci era in Boston, Bruins fans will remember them fondly. For 2,326 games, they were two of the most dependable players in the NHL. As two incredible players who helped bring the Stanley Cup back to Boston in 2011, Bergeron and Krejci will always be two of the greatest Bruins ever.