Now that this Bruins off-season is settled after hearing that they won’t be trying to trade Marc Savard, the Bruins are trying to make sure that next off-season won’t be quite so dramatic. With key players Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara set to become unrestricted free agents at the end of the season, it’s possible the Bruins might run into some issues.
What makes things a little less stressful is when one of those players declares that they want to stay with the team. CSN New England’s Joe Haggerty finds out that Patrice Bergeron wants to make Boston his home for a little while longer.
Bergeron said he already informed Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli during his exit interview at the end of last season that his first priority is remaining in Boston for the foreseeable future.
“I want to stay a Bruin. That’s something that I’ve made very clear to Peter,” said Bergeron, who bounced back from concussion issues for 52 points last season. “It’s obviously up to him. I’ve done my part and said that I obviously would like to stay in Boston.
“I really like it here. We’ll go from there, but right now I’m worrying about training camp and the season. From there we’ll see.”
Chiarelli and Bergeron’s agent Kent Hughes have both confirmed that “preliminary talks” have been underway this summer on a contract extension for the two-way center, and it’s in the best interest of both sides to keep him the longest-tenured member of the B’s. Bergeron took over that distinction for the Bruins once P.J. Axelsson returned to Sweden after the 2008-09 season.
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