BOSTON — While the Bruins will begin this year without their top playmaking center with Marc Savard sidelined for the start of camp with post-concussion syndrome symptoms, they hope they won't have to begin next year without their top two-way center.
Patrice Bergeron is entering the final year of his contract, but has expressed his desire to remain a Bruin. Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli has stated numerous times throughout the summer that getting Bergeron and captain Zdeno Chara, who is also entering the final year of his deal, signed to new contracts is a priority.
Despite that, no deals were reached in the offseason. Still, Bergeron is not overly concerned about the lack of an extension with a full season left to play before becoming a free agent.
"I guess for now I don’t worry about that because I have this whole year left," said Bergeron after fitness testing on Friday. "I like Boston, so we’ll see."
Ideally, most players prefer to work out new deals during the offseason rather than let negotiations drag into the season and become a possible distraction. Bergeron is aware of that potential, but he is open to continue talks once the season starts if necessary.
"I never really thought about it, to be honest with you," he said. "For now, I’m thinking about hockey and there hasn’t been [contract] talks in the last couple of weeks, so for now I’m just thinking about hockey. If we do come down to having some conversations during the year, and I feel it’s not distracting me, I’ll keep going, but if I feel like it does [become a distraction], I’ll tell Peter I want to stay in Boston, but I’ll [negotiate] later."
The Bruins have signed several contracts during the season in recent years, agreeing to deals with Tim Thomas, Milan Lucic, Tuukka Rask and Savard during the regular season in the last two years alone. Bergeron could join their ranks with another midseason extension this year, but he's also willing to wait until after the season if needed, and he might have even more leverage at that point, when he is so close to reaching unrestricted free agency on July 1.
"We'll see how it goes obviously," said Bergeron, who led the Bruins with 19-33-52 totals last year. "There's a lot of things that can go on before that, but as for now, yeah [he'd wait until after season if necessary]."
Bergeron, 25, is making $5.75 million this year, though his cap hit is just $4.75 million from the five-year, $23.75-million deal he signed in 2006.
