Letting Patrice Bergeron know his No. 37 is being retired was a team effort by the Bruins
Zdeno Chara was the first through the door Monday at Patrice Bergeron’s home in the Boston suburbs. Big Z called ahead, Friday in fact, under the guise of setting up a brief promotional video with his old pal for an exhibition game they’re playing in this summer in Europe.
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“Yeah, sure,” Bergeron was quick to tell his fellow former Bruins captain. “Of course, no problem.”
Soon after Chara arrived, John Bucyk rolled up the driveway. Always good to see Chief, thought Bergeron, but he began to grow curious about the expanding guest list, particularly with Bucyk arriving with a Garden banner under his arm from the club’s successful 2011 Stanley Cup run.
“That confused me a little,” acknowledged Bergeron.
In short order, Cam Neely, Charlie Jacobs, Terry O’Reilly, Rick Middleton, and a smattering of other familiar faces from the organization arrived in the not-so-impromptu tour de celebration. They all gathered to inform Bergeron, 40, of what he described as a surprise “big reveal” — the franchise’s decision to retire his No. 37.
“I was very emotional,” said a composed, appreciative, and humble Bergeron, reached by telephone Thursday afternoon, hours after the club announced word of the honor in an early-morning news release. “I was honored. It was all pretty surreal.”
The date to be determined, Bergeron’s number will be raised to the Garden rafters prior to a game this coming season. He’ll join 13 other franchise legends, including Chara, whose No. 33 was placed in perpetuity in a Jan. 15 ceremony prior to a game against the Kraken.
The Bruins have scheduled Bergeron for a news conference Tuesday at noon at the club’s practice facility. He is widely expected to be named Monday to the Hockey Hall of Fame’s class of 2026. If so, he’ll be formally inducted Nov. 9, one year after Chara’s induction.
A vital contributor to the club’s 2011 Stanley Cup victory, Bergeron retired three years ago after 19 NHL seasons and has completed the mandatory waiting period for Hall of Fame consideration. The Hall’s voting members will meet Monday morning and will make public their new inductees by the afternoon, first informing each new honoree via phone.
Of the 13 other Bruins to see their numbers retired, Bergeron will join Dit Clapper (5), Milt Schmidt (15), Willie O’Ree (22), and O’Reilly (24) as the only others not to suit up for another NHL franchise. He will be the only one in that group to reach the 1,000-game plateau.
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Bergeron retired in the summer of 2023 with a career line that reads 1,294 regular-season games, 427 goals, 613 assists, and 1,040 points. He played in 170 postseason games (50-78–128).
“This organization means the world to me,” said Bergeron, noting he was unaware he was on such a small subset of those to play exclusively with the Bruins and have their numbers retired. “I was fortunate to have come here as an 18-year-old kid that basically didn’t really know much — and I was welcomed with open arms by this organization, by the people in it, and the community.
“I never pictured myself or saw myself playing anywhere else.”
Bergeron, said team owner Jeremy Jacobs, was the kind of rare, generational talent that every team wanted.
“He was a deftly skilled playmaker and the undeniable greatest defensive forward in the NHL’s history,” Jacobs said in a release. “But it was the leadership he provided on the ice and in the locker room that made him truly stand apart and an all-time legend of the Boston Bruins.”
Considered among the premier two-way centermen in league history, Bergeron won a record six Selke Trophies as the NHL’s top defensive forward. He was awarded the last of those in his final 2022-23 season, opting then to call it a career while still in good health.
“Yeah,” he said with a thankful chuckle, “before the wheels fell off.”
Bergeron, noted team president Cam Neely, distinguished himself by making the franchise proud every time he pulled on its trademark Spoked-B.
“He led with humility and integrity and respect,” Neely said in a release, “for everyone around him, setting a tone of inclusivity and collaboration that was vital to our success.”
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