Patrice Bergeron’s grace and grit defined this Bruins era

Jake DeBrusk has never won a Stanley Cup. He came close in 2019 and his father played in the NHL. So he knows how much it means and how hard it is to win one.

But after Game 1 of Boston’s ill-fated first-round series against the Florida Panthers that Patrice Bergeron missed with an injury, DeBrusk talked about how the Bruins wanted to win not just for themselves.

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DeBrusk said the players wanted to win the Stanley Cup for Patrice Bergeron, the team’s beloved captain. because they were concerned Bergeron could retire after the season. Those concerns became a reality Tuesday when Bergeron announced his decision to call it a career.

There aren’t many players to ever play for the Bruins and even fewer who have been more respected and beloved. The franchise won its first Stanley Cup in 40 years under his leadership and was a perennial contender throughout his career. Zdeno Chara wore the captain’s “C” longer, but history will rightfully remember this as the “Patrice Bergeron Era.”

In the short team, the 2023-24 Bruins will miss his offense, his defense and prowess on faceoffs and special teams. But the tougher-to-fill void long term will be his leadership. Bergeron set the tone for the team’s culture. It rubbed off on veterans and rookies, longtime teammates and guys just passing through.

Garnet Hathaway played with Bergeron for just two months and cherished the experience.

“The highest-character guy I think I have ever played with. It was really special for me to be able to share the ice and share the locker room with him,” he said in May. “I tried to soak as much as I could in every single day that I was with him. He rubs off on every guy in the room, too. You can see how much guys look up to him and want to be like him and lead like him. He makes guys want to put that much extra effort and time into each other. ... It really is a close-knit group because of how he leads.”

Even opponents revered Bergeron.

“He’s someone who has played this game a long time and does everything right on and off the ice,” Connor McDavid said in a tribute video created by the NHLPA.

Bergeron was a Boston icon at the same time as mega-wattage stars David Ortiz and Tom Brady, whose charisma matched their accomplishments. By comparison, Bergeron was quiet, understated, maybe even a little boring. He didn’t fit the mold of players Bruins fans have usually embraced. His game and personality were a vintage red wine playing for a fan base that buys macro-brew beer in pitchers. But it worked. Replicas of his No. 37 jersey are as popular as any the team has ever sold.

Bergeron’s retirement adds another layer to the enormous disappointment that was the Bruins’ early exit from the 2023 playoffs. He played for way under his market value to give the team salary cap flexibility to build around him for what he hoped would be one more deep playoff run.

Bruins fans will forever wonder if that run would have materialized if Bergeron had been healthy. Injury attrition is part of the NHL playoffs, but his herniated disc came in the meaningless regular-season finale against the Montreal Canadiens that he shouldn’t have been playing in. After missing the first four games, he returned for Game 5 but was far from 100 percent. His back joins Kendrick Perkins’ knee in 2010 and Ted Williams’ elbow in 1946 among Boston’s most notable what-if injuries.

But playing through that injury will be among the enduring images Brad Marchand has of his friend and longtime teammate.

“He’s the most selfless guy to ever walk through this room and everything he does is for the betterment of the group. He sacrifices so much of his body and years of his life to help other guys achieve success, and try to build something special here,” he said. “He’s the kind of leader that is born, you can’t teach it. Once in a generation, the best leader in the NHL by far. To have a guy like that, and watch him continually play through the pain where most people can’t function — it’s pretty impressive. It’s another reason why he’s a legend.”