Quote:
Originally Posted by PepsiFree
Bergeron also missed an entire season, took a huge step back, and reinvented his game with an even higher focus on two-way play.
No matter which way you slice it, in the years between his concussion and the Bruins cup win, Bergeron was statistically very close to Backlund at his peak. That’s both “regular” stats and advanced stats. I feel like people are just glossing over the lows of Bergeron’s career here and just talking past each other and ignoring the point.
Either way, to make it clear, Bergeron is an elite center and one of the very best in the game, and a much better player than Backlund will ever (ever) be.
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That is fair to a certain extent, but it should also be noted that
08-09 was PB's comeback and was his worst statistical season with 39 pts in 64 games. But, that probably had more to do with Savard (88 pts) and Krejci (73 pts) with Kessel, Ryder, Wheeler, and Lucic filling out the top 6 (I presume).
If anything, it should be another accolade for Bergeron's that he dedicated himself to the 3C role and made the most of it.
09-10 doesn't look very impressive either with 52 pts in 73 games. But that actually lead the team that year...Savard went down after 41 games. By the end of the season Bergeron lead all forwards in ice time, but I'm not sure he would have been deployed with the best wingers for the half of the season that Savard did play...
One might conclude that PB has always had just as much offensive talent as say Krejci, but he is not always deployed in the best way for that to come through on the stat sheet (though moreso on the big scoreboard that matters.
None of this is to say he was nipping at Crosby's heels these years, but there are contextual reasons for his lower of profile.
