Rise back to the top: Patrice Bergeron

Always a fan favorite, and still young at the age of 23 years old, Patrice
Bergeron returned to his hard-working and talented form this season
for the Bruins. He had a solid return from a brutal checking from behind
incident courtesy of Randy Jones (philadelphia flyers) during the
2007-2008 campaign which limited him to just eleven games. After having
a mediocre start to the season, Bergeron hit a setback after he was struck
with another concussion while trying to finish a high check on Carolina
Hurricanes defenseman Dennis Seidenberg. Bergeron returned to the Bruins
roster, missing just 18 games and ending up tallying 39 points in 64 games
for the Bruins. The real growth in Bergeron's game came during the playoffs,
when he added 5 assists and a plus 3 rating for the Bruins in eleven games.
The stat sheet does not do Bergeron's contributions justice, as he centered
the Bruins third line which faced the opponents top line night in and night
out, still accumulating a plus 3 rating. Bergeron, despite his concussion
issues, even dropped the gloves with Montreal's Josh Gorges (Video below),
adding another element of hatred to the heated rivalry. That was easily
the loudest moment for the Bruin crowd in an exciting series. Now,
if Patrice can return to his 70 point seasons prior to his injury, the
Bruins depth down the center of the ice (Savard, Krejci, Bergeron)
will be a huge strength for the Bruins. But, if Patrice either can't stay
healthy or stays at about a 40 point per season pace, the Bruins will
not be able to keep eating his 4.75 million dollar salary. As a fan
favorite, and a Patrice fan myself, i would hate to see this happen.
But, this is the year Patrice needs to either make a comeback, or start
trimming his hefty salary.

Bergeron teaches Josh Gorges a lesson, and I'm pretty sure Jack
Edwards enjoyed it as much as we did:


Bergeron's regular season stats:
Games, Goals, Assists, Points

2005–06	Boston Bruins	NHL	81	31	42	73
2006–07	Boston Bruins	NHL	77	22	48	70
2007–08	Boston Bruins	NHL	10	3	4	7
2008–09	Boston Bruins	NHL	64	8	31	39