Ill do everyone one better...
Bergeron is the second best hockey player to ever wear a Bruins jersey...
Bergeron at his very very best... might deserve a statement like that... but Bergeron hasn't been at his very very best more than half his career
once marchand went superrocket bergerons scoring rate improved significantly...
in his last 3 years he has 88 goals and 107 assists for 195 points in 228 games
that means in his previous 740 games he has just 206 goals and 344 assists for 550 points
he was basically a 22 goal/59-60 point per year average player his first 10 seasons and then became a 30 goal/70 point guy the last 3 years
even at his career norm... he was always very very underated. the fact that he doesn't have 6-7-8 selkes is just sick. he was robbed by toews because toews had a better pr guy.
honestly... I think bergerons recent offense is powered by his linemates. I don't think he takes his linemates and elevates them offensively. due to this reason I don't think we can talk about him as the second best bruin ever. I don't even think we can talk about him as the best center ever
phil Esposito did things offensively that were every bit as crazy dominant as what Bergeron does defensive... and then theres oates who was someone that elevated his linemates too. I think oates was very underrated defensive and as far as his offense goes he was a better playmaker than gretzky for years of head to head comparison. its shocking oates doesn't get more credit.
could Bergeron find a place in our top 10 all time list? I say he should be there... but with guys like bourque and neely in contention... some of the old time hof like shore and Schmidt... you likely are considering Bergeron at the bottom of the top 10. still great but not quite second all time
id like to see us do another rate the alltime bruins. I feel chara/Bergeron didn't get nearly enough respect last time we did it... and I could make a case for marchand getting up in that top 10 now too based on his last 2-3 seasons