PLYMOUTH, Mass. -- At age 21, Patrice Bergeron already has
shown he can be an outstanding scorer. Now he has five more years
to show he also can be a leader of the Boston Bruins.
Bergeron
He plans to do it by scoring and checking rather than shouting.
"I've learned a lot in the past few years that I've been
here," Bergeron said Wednesday, one day after signing a five-year
contract worth $23.75 million. "Some great leaders were in the
dressing room. I learned a lot from them about leadership.
"Obviously, I'm not the most vocal guy, but I lead by example
so that's what I'm going to keep doing."
Bergeron became the Bruins' No. 1 center after they traded
captain Joe Thornton to San Jose last Nov. 30. Bergeron scored 31
goals, becoming the youngest player in team history to reach 30 in
a season, and led the team with 73 points.
Boston missed the playoffs and Peter Chiarelli replaced the
fired Mike O'Connell as general manager. Chiarelli dismissed coach
Mike Sullivan and replaced him with Dave Lewis. The Bruins added
two key free agents, defenseman Zdeno Chara and center Marc Savard.
The signing of Bergeron, a restricted free agent who had a strong
desire to stay in Boston, gives the team two high-scoring centers.
"There is a growing sense of 'let's see how it plays' in terms
of the team on the ice," Bruins executive vice president Charlie
Jacobs said, "but we certainly have gone about it in a very direct
and efficient manner in addressing what we believe to be the
necessary changes to get our team back to where it should be."
The 6-foot, 197-pound Bergeron was the 45th player drafted in
2003 and has 45 goals and 67 assists in two seasons. He also is a
physical player, as Chiarelli saw last season as assistant general
manager of Ottawa.
"I've been a fan of Patrice's for a long time. He's been a
nemesis when I was with Ottawa," Chiarelli said. "The way he took
on our top defensemen on the forecheck and didn't back down, so
that's an intangible that I see in Patrice."
Cam Neely was a Bruins leader before retiring after the 1995-96
season.
"He's hard to knock off the puck and he's deceptively
physical," Neely said. "What I really see in Patrice is the
ability to become a great leader of this team."
Chiarelli has talked with Lewis about naming a captain and the
two plan further discussions. Thornton appeared uncomfortable in
that role.
"There's no intention to force a leadership upon him. It comes
naturally to a player," Chiarelli said. "They just assume that
role and part of assuming that role is to have a strong leadership
core around you and I believe that we put that in place" with
Chara and Savard.
That core will continue to emerge during training camp, which
starts Sept. 14. For now, Bergeron is excited about the new deal
which runs out in what would have been his first year of
eligibility for free agency.
"I'm really happy," he said. "It's obviously a relief. The
whole time, I was positive it was going to get done."
Chiarelli also was optimistic.
"Patrice, through his representative, had said all along that
he wants to be a Boston Bruin," Chiarelli said.
If a team presented an offer sheet to Bergeron that the Bruins
didn't match, they would have received two first-round draft picks,
one second-rounder and one third-rounder.
With all their players signed, there's no chance of a repeat of
last year's holdouts by defenseman Nick Boynton and goalie Andrew Raycroft, who were traded after the season.
Tim Thomas, who succeeded Raycroft as the No. 1 goalie, admires
Bergeron's leadership potential.
"You can be a leader without being that vocal," Thomas said.
"I wouldn't change anything if I was Patrice. I'd just keep doing
the same thing that I was doing."