Well, the wait is finally over.
The Bruins announced Monday morning that Patrice Bergeron has signed a one-year contract for the 2022-23 season — with the 37-year-old center only accounting for a $2.5 million cap hit.
As expected, Bergeron’s contract also features $2.5 million in performance-based incentives — which opens the door for a larger payout for the B’s captain and gives Boston the flexibility to push some of that cap hit into the 2023-24 season if Boston exceeds that $82.5 million cap ceiling this year.
Monday’s news doesn’t necessarily come as much of a surprise, given that Don Sweeney has noted for more than a month now that Bergeron crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s on a new deal seemed inevitable.
“I think we’re in a really good place with Patrice,” Sweeney said during the first day of NHL free agency. “Just the timing and working out the details of his contract and allowing him to declare that he’s good to go could be any timeframe there. Just working through some of the stuff, letting some of this day pass. He’s the only one that’s going to make that final announcement. He has the final say.”
As such, the primary hold-up in terms of Bergeron’s contract likely revolved around hammering out the details of his cap hit and performance incentives — which Boston needed to include in this deal in order to navigate through what little fiscal flexibility they have.
With Bergeron signing for just a $2.5 million cap hit, the Bruins are still operating with about $2.25 million in cap room (per CapFriendly) – with the B’s still needing to sign Pavel Zacha to a new deal and potentially ink David Krejci to another short-term, incentive-laden contract.
That $2.25 million sure isn’t enough to sign both Czech forwards, but getting an elite player like Bergeron to sign for just $2.5 million does give Boston a bit more breathing room when it comes to balancing its books.
The Bruins still have a few hurdles to clear this offseason, but with Bergeron (fresh off of arguably his best defensive season in his Hall-of-Fame career) in place, Boston has its 1C back for what could one last run in 2022-23.