There’s no denying Patrice Bergeron is one heck of a hockey player. But it’s also what he does off the ice that’s left an impression on his teammates.
The Boston Bruins’ top-line center is a four-time Selke Award winner and Stanley Cup champion. Bergeron also helped get former teammate Gemel Smith out of a dark place and referred him to renowned sports psychologist Max Offenberger in 2018.
So is it really a surprise he was pegged as the “most generous” teammate by six different Bruins?
The Athletic’s Joe McDonald asked a few players that very question. Here are the answers:
(Danton) Heinen: That’s a tough one because there are so many of them. Let’s go (Patrice Bergeron).
(Karson) Kuhlman: Oh, man. They all are. Seriously, everybody, but if I had to pick one it would be Bergy.
(Charlie)Coyle: There are a lot of guys. Nordy (Joakim Nordstrom) comes to mind really quick; Bergy, obviously. (Zdeno Chara’s) up there. I’ll say Nordy because I wanna give him some good press.
(John) Moore: We’ve had some big milestones lately and I’ve never seen where they’re giving out gifts, so it’s got to be a tie between Zee, Bergy and Tuukka.
(Brandon) Carlo: Bergy. I’ve never seen generosity quite like him. It can be a gift like he gave us for his 1,000th game, but in general, just the person that he is and how he handles himself with checking in on you all the time, whether you’re having a good day, or bad day, that’s a different form of generosity that he brings.
(Sean) Kuraly: We’ve got a lot of them. Bergy.
(Joakim) Nordstrom: That’s a tough one, too. Zee, Bergy and Tuukka, when all those guys had their anniversary games they were giving us gifts. For me, it should be the other way around; we should be giving them gifts, and we did, but it was so generous of them.
(Connor) Clifton: I would say Bergy.
If there was an NHL Award for “most generous teammate,” it looks like Bergeron would run away with it. But he’d have some pretty tough competition in Rask, Chara and Nordstrom.
