Morning Skate: Era

It is Wednesday, my dudes.

As further proof that I know nothing about anything, I am your loyal site manager who continued to insist that he thought Patrice Bergeron would be back and David Krejci would retire.

Well, now we’ve got no Bergeron, no signs of Krejci, and Pavel Zacha as 1C. Just goes to show that running a website doesn’t mean anything, eh?

Bergeron’s retirement was the talk of the hockey world yesterday, with the B’s captain electing to hang ‘em up after 20 years.

As 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Ty Anderson noted on Twitter, the Bruins’ “farewell, Patrice” video appears to have been shot on break-up day back in the spring — lending at least a little credence to the idea that the B’s have known Bergeron’s plans for a while.

Other floated the idea that the B’s recorded these as a “just in case,” but that seems like a lot of effort for a “just in case.”

The other possibility is that Bergeron informed the team he was retiring, the team said “okay, we’ll give you some time in case you change your mind,” and that didn’t happen.

I suppose we could argue ourselves into knots over this, but the basic fact remains that Bergeron will not be with the B’s next season.

The idea that the team knew this might at least make some of the summer moves more palatable — short-term, short-money guys, moving salary, and trying to create some space/flexibility for the season after this one.

Or Dealin’ Don could have something else up his sleeve, making a trade for a serviceable 1-3C who could help shoulder some of the load.

Hey, at least with Bergeron ending the speculation, we now have something else to argue about!

Today’s discussion topic

I’ll give you two:

• Who’s the next captain? Brad Marchand is the obvious pick for me.
• What’s your favorite non-”Leafs Game 7 2013” or “Cup Final Game 7 2011” Bergeron highlight? I’ll go with saving the goal against Carolina (same game as the three shorthanded goals on the same PK) or the playoff fight with Josh Gorges.

That last one had a few vintage Jack Edwards gems in “Patrice Bergeron is getting in a fight!” and “Concuss that!”

Good times.