Bergeron was 'whole package,' former, current Bruins teammates say

Center who retires after 19 seasons was true leader, helped establish winning culture in Boston

It was Game 6 of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final, and the Boston Bruins were facing an elimination game against the Chicago Blackhawks without Patrice Bergeron. The center had a broken rib and the odds of him playing in the game were virtually nil.

Because who could play Stanley Cup Playoffs-level hockey with a broken rib?

"We were basically, as a coaching staff, preparing to go into the game without him," former coach Claude Julien said. "And the first thing the doctors came in and said, 'he wants to give it a go. He's convinced he can do it'."

The Bruins were down 3-2 in the best-of-7 series, which was why Bergeron took the ice. And even though they wouldn't win the game, even though two goals in 17 seconds -- including the game-winner with 76 seconds left in regulation -- ended the season and the series, the game would cement Bergeron's place in Bruins and hockey lore.

Because that broken rib turned into a punctured lung, to go along with torn rib cartilage and a separated right shoulder, a lung that eventually collapsed, resulting in a three-day hospital stay. 

"The one thing that I always said sticks out to me is 2013 when we played Game 6 in Boston and he played with a broken rib," said Julien, who coached Bergeron for 10 seasons, including 2010-11 when they won the Stanley Cup. "Just goes to show you the commitment and dedication this guy had for the game, for his team and for the organization. 

"He's been willing to give everything to his team for years. And I'm sure everybody recognizes that."

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Bergeron, who embodied the Bruins over his 19 seasons in the NHL, announced his retirement Tuesday. He had been their captain for the past three seasons, inheriting the honor from Zdeno Chara, with whom he had led the team in tandem since Chara's arrival in 2006-07. 

"For the last 20 years I have been able to live my dream every day," Bergeron said in a statement. "I have had the honor of playing in front of the best fans in the world wearing the Bruns uniform and representing my country at the highest levels of international play. I have given the game everything that I have physically and emotionally, and the game has given me back more than I could have ever imagined.

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

Bergeron, along with Chara, turned the franchise and the culture around, helping create a model organization that reached the Stanley Cup Final three times in nine seasons between 2011 and 2019. They epitomized selflessness and team and that moment in 2013 is one that is repeated again and again and again by those who were around the Bruins that season. Because, to them, that was who Bergeron is, what Bergeron is, why he is revered the way he has been. 

"That sums up him in a lot of ways," former teammate Adam McQuaid said recently. 

Not only did he help lead the Bruins to that 2011 Cup, beating the Vancouver Canucks in an epic seven-game series, Bergeron won the Frank J. Selke Trophy, awarded to the best defensive forward, a record six times and was a finalist for the award an NHL record 12 consecutive times.

Bergeron played 1,294 games, all for the Bruins, and had 1,040 points (427 goals, 613 assists) from 2003-23, after being selected in the second round (No. 45) in the 2003 NHL Draft and making the roster as an 18-year-old. 

In addition to the Selke Trophy, Bergeron won the King Clancy Memorial Award in 2013 for his leadership and community contribution, the NHL Foundation Award in 2014, and the Mark Messier Leadership Award in 2021. 

"He's probably the best teammate, best guy that I played with my whole 15-year career," former teammate David Backes said. "A guy that would do anything for you. He's always checking in with you, asking how your family is. He wants to really get to know you for who you were and cared about you as a person and as a teammate. And that speaks volumes along with how he's been able to excel."

And he was certainly able to excel. One of the best two-way centers to play the game, Bergeron exemplified defensive responsibility while also being an offensive force, topping out at 79 points (32 goals, 47 assists) in 65 games in 2018-19. 

In 170 playoff games, Bergeron had 128 points (50 goals, 78 assists), reaching the Cup Final three times, in 2011, 2013 and 2019, losing the 2019 series to the St. Louis Blues in seven games.

Bergeron is also one of 30 members of the Triple Gold club, having won the Stanley Cup, gold at the World Championships (2004) and gold in the Olympics (2010, 2014), each for Canada. 

When Brad Marchand was early in his career with the Bruins, Julien pointed him toward Bergeron. He told him to emulate the center, to model his game and his approach after him. As Marchand related, "Claude really pushed me, like you need to be like 'Bergy.' He's the perfect example for you to follow and learn from."

The two would go on to spend 10 years as linemates, at times being part of the best line in the NHL.

"It's funny, you see all the best players in the game, it's not by chance," Marchand said. "There's a reason why they're the best. There's a reason why Bergy's become the best two-way player to ever play the game. It's because of the commitment. Seeing that every day, there's an accountability to play like that. You don't want to be the one to let him down."

But it was a career that, at one point, was not assured. 

Bergeron missed all but 10 games in 2007-08 after being hit from behind by Randy Jones of the Philadelphia Flyers on Oct. 27, 2007. He lost consciousness and sustained a concussion and would not return until the following season after severe concussion symptoms plagued him. 

"His list goes on of the things that he's achieved," said former teammate Milan Lucic, who re-signed with the Bruins this offseason after eight years away from the organization. "But for me, I was there when we went through a hard time of when he had a concussion in 2007. … Just seeing him work his way back to that elite level the next year and the year after that, it's really impressive to see because he put the time and the work in. 

"To see him overcome all that and become the player that he's become? Yeah. There's not much more I could say that can be said about him."

It was the next season that Mark Recchi arrived in Boston at the tail end of his Hall of Fame career, and met a 23-year-old Bergeron, who was back and finding his footing. 

"He respects leaders, but in his own right, he was already one," said Recchi, who would play on the same line with Bergeron in Boston. "He's just a born leader."

Three seasons later, in his final moment as an NHL player, Recchi handed the Cup to Bergeron. 

"Will there be another Patrice Bergeron? Probably not," Recchi said. "He's pretty special in his own right, obviously, the way he plays the game and how special a player he is, as well as person, but he's helped build that culture. 

"His legacy is he's a tremendous leader. He's a tremendous player. And the type of person he is, I mean, it's the whole package. Every team wishes they had a guy like that leading their franchise, I can tell you that."

The legacy that Bergeron has built will have a lasting impact on the team that drafted him in the second round and has reaped the benefits for nearly two decades. 

Because Bergeron has been among the best two-way centers to play the game, among the best leaders the game has seen and among the most respected players, eventually outlasting the "underrated" label that he was marked with early in his career. 

But for him, it was time to step away. He and wife Stephanie recently had their fourth child, Felix, and he determined that, on the day after he turned 38, it was time to end his career.

"As hard as it is to write, I also write it knowing how blessed and lucky I feel to have had the career that I have had, and that I have the opportunity to leave the game I love on my terms," he wrote. "It wasn't a decision that I came to lightly. But after listening to my body, and talking with my family, I know in my heart that this is the right time to step away from playing the game I love."

By the end, it was hard not to see his true value, the value of a career that will almost certainly end with Bergeron being enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame. 

"A guy with tremendous respect from everybody in the entire league," Backes said. "He does it the right way. What a wonderful career and what an awesome job he did representing Boston, just being a guy that was a 200-foot player. 

"If you could have 20 of him on your team, you would win every single day because he's that good."