With all of big-name defensive players and goalies out of the way, it’s time for our player evaluation to shift toward the forwards.
Today we’ll be taking a look at the team’s top two centers, Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci.
Player: Patrice Bergeron
Regular Season Stats: 30 goals, 33 assists, 63 points, +21
Post Season Stats: 6 goals, 10 assists, 16 points, +6
Grade: A-
Even as Patrice Bergeron begins the descent into his mid-30s, he continues to perform at an elite level which rivals that of the best in the league.
Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak are certainly all-star caliber forwards, but Bergeron is the one who makes the top line tick.
The star center missed 17 games throughout the season but still managed to pull together an extremely productive campaign.
He played 15 fewer games in 2017-2018 than he did in 2016-2017 but lit the lamp nine more times this season and recorded an additional assist.
The heart of the Bruins’ offense may not have many prime years left, but he is showing no signs of slowing down.
Player: David Krejci
Regular Season Stats: 17 goals, 27 assists, 44 points, +10
Post Season Stats: 3 goals, 7 assists, 10 points, -4
Grade: A-
Like Bergeron, Krejci didn’t play as many games as he did a year ago, but he still managed to drastically improve his play.
Krejci’s numbers outside of his much-improved plus-minus—up 22 points from last year—didn’t jump but his play was much better than his 2016-2017 season. The 32-year-old might be the biggest team player on the entire Bruins roster. Every play he makes is in the pursuit of helping the team win.
It’s a shame that Bruins fans didn’t get to see him play much alongside a healthy Rick Nash because his purely selfless style of play gelled very nicely with Nash’s goal-scoring instincts.
One Response
kejci should have gotten a d trasde him now