/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/53023737/631041814.0.jpg)
Evaluation:
Patrice Bergeron once again is one of the premiere athletes of this sport, sporting fancystats that would make even the most jaded of analytics nerds blush and playing with the kind of effortless poise and control that practically every kid over the age of 6 idolizes in New England. Nothing Patrice Bergeron actively does
He’s been a top-6 player in Boston for most of his career here in Boston and that isn’t changing this year as he continues on this year with a strong campaign.
The difference this year is that it took him a long-ass time to get there.
For a majority of the season, Bergeron has been sort of lagging behind in terms of points accrued and shots on net, which is weird for him, as he’s usually shooting in much higher percentages than he is right now and usually scoring and creating scoring at a rate much higher than he is right now. Thankfully, he has players in David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand who can help pick up the slack, but for a very long time he was the odd-man out on his line. Still a demon on the faceoff circle, still a two-way god, still a great shot and passer...the shots just weren’t getting on net, and the pucks just weren’t going in for him over the past 50 games for him. Thankfully, he’s recently seen an uptick in points produced by him or by someone he passed the puck to, so hopefully this aberrant year is just that: An aberration of math that is starting to even itself out.
Because that’s all that’s stopping him from being the truly potent dual-threat monster he’s been for Boston over the last decade or so. As of right now he’s just mostly-potent.
Grade: A
He’s Patrice Bergeron. Him going through a year that is practically unprecidented for him doesn’t change the fact that everything other than shots directly on net are being done pitch perfectly for Boston and the Bruins would be screwed without him.
Stats:
Games Played: 50
Goals: 12
Assists: 11
Points: 23
Shooting-%: 5.58%
Season CF% as of 2/1/17: 62.65%
OwnThePuck Visual:
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/7908155/Story_1__12_.png)