BOSTON — Don Sweeney and the Boston Bruins won’t be putting pressure on Patrice Bergeron or David Krejci this offseason as each mulls over his respective future.
Neither Bergeron nor Krejci are under contract for the 2023-24 campaign. Both have acknowledged how they will take time away from the rink and talk with their families before coming to a decision whether or not to return. Krejci, who confirmed he was deciding between a return to Boston or retirement and has no plans to play elsewhere, wants to make his decision soon.
Sweeney, however, said he did not have any time frame relating to when either would make their respective decisions. And he doesn’t need one.
“We went through this exercise last offseason in putting together two kind of simultaneous rosters,” Sweeney said at TD Garden on Tuesday when he met with reporters during the Bruins’ year-end press conference. “I probably had an indication early enough last summer to go in the direction that we were able to execute. Some things came after that, Pavel Zacha is an example of sort of understanding where we may be and where we want to be.
“The goal was to build the deepest team that we possibly could, and we fell short, ultimately and the goal will be — you look at the core group of guys that we currently have that had very, very successful regular seasons and we’ll build around that, maybe it’ll be integrating younger players,” Sweeney continued. “You can already see where our minds are going in terms of running simultaneous things and we’ll respect the timelines on David (Krejci) and Patrice (Bergeron) as necessary.”
Both Bergeron and Krejci were in a similar position last offseason. Bergeron considered retirement while Krejci, who called this season a “rollercoaster”, made the decision to rejoin the Black and Gold after playing one year in his native Czech Republic. They did so in hopes of making one last run, though it again ended in disappointment. After a record-setting regular season in which the Bruins recorded the most wins and points in a single season, Boston was eliminated by the Florida Panthers in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Whether or not the two Bruins cornerstones do play in 2023-24, the group still is expected to look different. Boston’s financial constraints, as expressed by Sweeney, will play a role in that roster-building and the team has a handful of unrestricted free agents.
“Roster changes are likely coming,” Sweeney said. “We’re not going to be the same team. But our mandate internally, collectively as a group, is we have a really strong core of guys that hopefully will continue to grow and will take leadership responsibility moving forward, regardless of whether Patrice and David walk back through the door because they need to.”
