Patrice Bergeron is...well...perfect.

Man...I dunno what to tell you that you don’t already know.

He played one game more than he did last season, had roughly the same amount of injury problems, and had almost 20 more points. He was a Selke finalist again, he had near psychic links with Brad Marchand again, he was a fancystats darling always, and he became the 5th Boston Bruin ever to reach 1000 games played in the NHL.

Patrice Bergeron is the Bruins best player of the modern era. As per usual.

Time might even canonize him as one of their best ever if the B’s play their cards right and he’s still like this after age 35.

It’s hard to talk about Patrice Bergeron because his 2-way game is both discussed to the nth degree and also so good you really can’t poke any holes in it. He’s just...perfectly good at everything. He is a hockey cheat code that teams the world over would kill for. There’s really not much you can say other than when he’s on the ice you notice, and when he’s off the ice you miss him.

He makes opposing defenses make mistakes by merely entering the offensive zone. He backchecks with ruthless efficiency. He scores so easily you’d think he was putting shots on his garage door. His accuracy is near-pinpoint when he has space. He passes like he’s in a video game.

How on earth could you not give him a 10 outta 10 every single time he’s on the ice? He’s just...that good.

In the Playoffs:

Well...you might be able to take some points off here. Maybe like... point-6 if you’re still hurting from Game 7.

The playoffs were a time of feast and famine for the top line primarily because every coach worth his salt stapled their best players to Bergeron and co. as they attempted to contain one of the regular season’s best lines, and for once...it really did look like it was actually working for a little bit.

I mean, most of the time it did not, because it’s still Patrice Bergeron we’re talking about, but it did happen.

Unsurprisingly, the one team to actually neutralize the 1st line as well as they could ended up being, unfortunately, the Stanley Cup Champions, who ended up managing to cut his ability to score down in the final three games in a way that would cripple the team’s chances by the end.

Aggregated Player Rating: 9.4/10

Patrice Bergeron is the beating heart of practically everything the Boston Bruins do. Defense, Offense, whatever. He’s simply fantastic. Even if his playoffs weren’t as perfect as his reputation assumes.

Fancystats and Visual:

Evolving-Hockey.com