Q&A: From his greatest teammates to all the trades, Lee...
Lee Stempniak on Bergy: (He lists Kariya, Sid, Z, and Bergy as players he played with who stuck out for him)
The good thing about 10 different teams is that you ended up playing alongside some of the greatest players of this generation and some of the greatest of all time. Who sticks out for you?
"And then the last two guys, (Zdeno) Chara and (Patrice) Bergeron. They’re great leaders, great players. They’ve set the tone for the Boston Bruins. Everyone in Boston falls in line because of those guys. Bergy and I’ve become pretty good friends just from training in summer before I played with him and then playing with him. He’s probably the guy I respect the most in the NHL just because of how he plays. He’s so good defensively, still scores a ton of goals, he doesn’t cheat for it. He’s a great leader. He’s humble. He’s a really nice person. He’s genuine. That’s how he is every single day whether to other veterans he’s played with forever or young guys in training camp. To see that side of it and just know there’s guys like that is pretty cool. Last year when I was practicing with the Bruins and not playing. You’re sort of like an outside observer and you got to see the way if a guy was in and out of the lineup and struggling; no big show about it but he (Bergeron) would engage that guy and talk a little bit. He’s a really good people person and knows what to say and how to act. It can go completely unnoticed, but he’s pretty genuine with that stuff."