Bergeron’s attention to detail sets him apart
High work ethic is admired by his teammates
TORONTO — Patrice Bergeron complimented his linemates profusely Thursday, after being nominated for the Selke Trophy for a record seventh time.
But those linemates — Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak — know that while they play their respective roles on the line, its Bergeron who is truly one of the handful of elite players in the game who are in a class all by themselves.
“He does everything I can’t,” Marchand said Thursday, prior to game 4 in the Leafs-Bruins quarter-final series.
“The way he pushes himself every day to be better … we (linemates) have to push ourselves to be at that level. He expects us to be good, he expects us to be better. Its fun just watching him in practice, the way he works on his game. He’s a guy who could close it (end practice) early, but he’s not built that way.”
Bergeron, 32, for all his success as the best two-way player in the National Hockey League, still works on game details. One of his pet details is his shot — he regularly works on release in the slot, especially in getting off the shot as quickly as possible.
Bergeron has won three of the past four Selke awards. He was nominated along with Philadelphia’s Sean Courturier and Los Angeles King’s Anze Kopitar.
Amazingly, Bergeron appears like the front-runner to make it four straight Selke’s, even in the face of missing 18 games this season with injury.
On top of posting 30 goals and 63 points — just under career high levels — he continued his ranking as one of the very best faceoff players in the NHL. He placed fifth best in the NHL on the faceoff dot, at 57.3 per cent, and posted an average of 1:49 seconds on the Bruins third ranked penalty kill. Most impressive: he won 58.3 per cent of his faceoffs while his team was on the penalty kill.
The line also had a stunning year, with Bergeron’s 57.6 per cent Corsi-for at 5-on-5 ranking him first overall among the 220 NHL forwards with over 800 minutes played.
“It’s always a reflection of what your teammates do around you,” Bergeron said Thursday at the morning skate. “They’re constantly making you look better.”
Those who have played with him, and know him both on and off the ice, underlined Bergeron’s work ethic.
The praise came from teammates, from coach Bruce Cassidy, and Leafs coach Mike Babcock, who first coached Bergeron as an 18 year old at the 2004 World Championships in the Czech Republic.
That squad won gold, and golds would follow for Bergeron at the 2010 and 14 Olympics, and the 2016 World Cup, all teams coached by Babcock.
Naturally, Bergeron is familiar with Babcock’s legendary intensity in terms of demanding players get better. The two certainly have an inside track on each other in this quarter-final series between the Leafs and Bruins.
“He’s (Babcock) very good at adjusting,” Bergeron said. “He adjusts to things every game. That’s what we’ve seen so far in this series, and we’re trying to adjust to things, too.”
Cassidy had Riley Nash taking reps at centre on the Bergeron line at the morning skate Thursday, something he’s done on occasion to rest his top centre in a season when he’s suffered injuries.
Cassidy also had designs on Nash’s presence in his forward corps: Nash has developed into a highly effective and highly credible, defensive centre. Playing on the fourth line, Nash gives Cassidy the opportunity to allow the Bergeron line more offensive opportunities.
“I think that’s a growth of the lines underneath (the Bergeron line),” Cassidy said, when asked about the high end offensive stats for Bergeron and his line this season. “But I’ll tell you something about (Bergeron’s) line, they talk a lot, they are always looking at things they can do better in those situations (offence, and defence).”