Bergeron revelation centers on hernia
Patrice Bergeron did not have a bad season. For many observers, the star center is yet again a Selke Trophy front-runner. But his offensive numbers were a wee bit off, and he went long stretches without registering a point. Now we know why. In the last practice before the season began, Bergeron suffered a sports hernia. He missed the first three games then played the final 79 and all six playoff games.
“I’ve been dealing with a sports hernia all (through the season), so with the schedule it was definitely something that was nagging and it was there for most of the year,” Bergeron said yesterday. “But having the breaks in the second half definitely helped a lot to make it feel a little better.”
Bergeron finished with 21 goals and 32 assists. At one point early in the season, he went six games without a point, his longest pointless stretch in six seasons.
Bergeron could be facing offseason surgery.
“It might (be required), yeah,” he said. “It’s something we have to talk about and do the pros and cons, I guess. Definitely don’t want to go through that again next year, so that might be the option.”
Pasta wants to stay
With his 34-goal season coming at precisely the right time, winger David Pastrnak is in line for a major pay raise. One reasonable comparable would be the second contract of Nashville Predators winger Filip Forsberg. After a 2015-16 season with 33 goals and 31 assists, Forsberg signed a six-year deal worth $6 million a season.
Pastrnak wasn’t willing to engage in much contract talk, but did say he wanted to remain with the Bruins. At least that’s a lot more encouraging than the team’s previous significant restricted free agent, defenseman Dougie Hamilton, who when asked on breakup day in 2015 if he wanted to return responded with “no comment.”
“Obviously, I love it here. It’s where I started and where I got the opportunity to play in the NHL,” Pastrnak said. “This is not something I’ve been focusing on the whole season and I’m not going to think about it now. I did what I could.”
McQuaid wonders
It is still an open question which three defensemen the Bruins will protect in the expansion draft. Zdeno Chara has to be protected because of a no-movement clause (that’s a no-brainer anyway) and Torey Krug is the other obvious choice. But the final protected spot seems to be a choice of Kevan Miller, Adam McQuaid or Colin Miller.
McQuaid has the longest tenure of those three with the Bruins, and he won a Stanley Cup here. Has he played his last game for the B’s?
“I hope not. I never thought of it that way, to be honest with you,” McQuaid said. “The reality is that they’re picking someone from every team. I hope that’s not the case for me. I want to be back here and I’ve always said how much I love it here. I can’t imagine playing for another team.”
McQuaid was knocked out of the playoffs in Game 2 with what he revealed was a neck injury — he had hoped to return for the second round — but he played a career-high 77 games this year and in an elevated topfour role.
2 injuries in 1 series
David Krejci was knocked out of Game 5 with an obvious knee injury. The center refused to reveal the injury that knocked him out of the first two games of the playoff series. He did say he was injured in a practice right before the playoffs. . . .
It was indeed a concussion that kept defenseman Brandon Carlo out of the playoffs.
“There’s a point where you have to worry about the next 20 years rather than this year,” Carlo said. “It was really disappointing. I wanted to be out there, but at the same time I thought the guys did a really good job.”