David Krejci's body told him time was up on his NHL career

Like Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci's body told him it was time. 

As Krejci dealt with injuries at the end of the 2022-23 season and ground through four of Boston's seven games in the first round against the Florida Panthers, his body began to shout.

Even if No. 46 abstained from making an official decision during breakup day, worried it might have been a rash call in the wake of the Game 7 heartbreak, he already knew deep down that the injuries had taken enough of a toll. 

“The decision was made I would say when my injuries started to happen at the end of the season, but I didn’t want to rush to my decision,” Krejci said via Zoom Tuesday. “I really wanted to take my time and really think things over, because you don’t want to make decisions when the emotions are going through you. So I really wanted to take my time and wait for the right moment. 

"I just realized there’s never a right time or right moment to retire from the NHL. But I felt like it was time. I knew my body couldn’t take 82 games anymore, and that was the decision.”

Had Krejci opted for an NHL return, he would have required surgery for his ailments – 98.5 The Sports Hub's Ty Anderson reported that Krejci needed injections to suit up in the playoffs due to whatever he was dealing with. The cerebral center had to weigh the pros and cons of putting his body through another 82-game slog away from his young family, something he said he physically "can't take."  At 37, he doesn't have the desire to go under the knife, go through rehab and ramp up for another NHL season. 

“I have to listen to my body," Krejci said. 'My body's not ready to play the whole season, especially at the speed and level the NHL is. I just felt I gave it my all, played through some injuries last year. I left everything I had there at the end. I know if I came back to the NHL, I would definitely not be the same player I was last year.”

And although the Czech pivot's time is up in the "greatest league in the world," as he called it in Monday's statement, he once again hasn't precluded himself from hockey altogether. 

The 2023 IIHF World Championships will be held in Prague. Krejci is a native of Šternberk, Czechia, roughly a three-hour drive from the capital city. He admitted that the door remains open for a potential midseason return in Czechia or elsewhere in Europe to ramp up on the ice in the lead-up to hopefully representing his country on home soil. 

He can't get ahead of himself, though. Krejci, who may be open to scouting sometime down the line, will take the rest of the calendar year before deciding if one last curtain call overseas is in the cards, but it's certainly a thought he said is in the back of his head.

“If at some point around Christmas, I feel like, you know, let’s get ready, play a couple of months somewhere in Europe, get ready for the World Championship, get it done in two weeks, come back home... that’s something I’m thinking about,” Krejci said. “If it happens, we'll see. I definitely won't be playing anywhere the whole year. If I decide to keep going then it would definitely be after New Year’s. But we'll see what happens."

Nevertheless, with his NHL career over (for a second time), Krejci goes out as one of the greats to don a Bruins sweater, ranking in fifth for games played (1,032) and assists (555) as well as ninth in points (786) in the organizations soon-to-be 100-year history. In the postseason, few were better than "Playoff Krech," a two-time league-leading scorer in the playoffs, who finishes tied for second in points (128), solo second in assists (85), third in games (160) and sixth in goals (43). 

He returned from a 2021-22 season spent playing in Czechia for one last ride in 2022-23, helping turn in the best regular season performance by any team in league history. To his credit, Krejci still flashed plenty throughout the year, putting up 56 points (16g, 40a) in 70 games, a pace for 65 points over a full 82 games. It was his most productive year since matching a career-high 73 points in 81 games in 2018-19. 

Unfortunately, the 2022-23 and 2018-19 seasons will always leave a sour taste around Boston, as well as the lockout-shortened 2013 season. In the days after one final encore for "Playoff Krech" (1g, 2a) in the Game 7 loss to Florida, which put an all-too-quick end to the magical season, he put it right next to the 2019 Game 7 loss at home in the Stanley Cup Final.  

Still, in the months that have passed, Krejci's choosing to have a little perspective, trying not to dwell on what could have been. Rather, he's focusing on what actually was. Droves of players across the league's history would kill to have had the chance to win even one Stanley Cup, which Krejci did in 2011, let alone the chance to play for it three times.

"To be honest, I've put it behind me," he said of this past season. "The last year is always going to be there. It’s a missed opportunity and its always going to be there with 2019 and 2013, but that's sports. Like I've said before, the NHL is the hardest trophy to win. You could see it this year. ... That’s what I like about hockey, and that’s what I love about playoffs. Playoffs start from zero, and anything can happen. That’s why it’s the hardest trophy to win in the world. 

"I don’t take for granted that I have that ring on my finger from 2011.”

He's content with what he was able to do.

“Everyone will have their own opinion, but I just wanted to do the best I could to represent myself,.my family, the City of Boston and the Bruins organization the best I could," Krejci said. "I think for the most part, I've done that, and everybody's gonna remember me the way they want to remember me and that's fine with me. It's totally up to them."

In the wake of Krejci and Bergeron's retirements, the Bruins will be spread thin down the middle, especially in the top-six, where Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha will be thrust into starring roles. Still, the core is in place around them with Brad Marchand still one of the league's premier wingers and the likely successor to the captaincy. David Pastrnak is also very much one of the league's best on the flanks, coming off his 61-goal season. Krejci said of No. 88, "There's one thing he's missing the Stanley Cup, and I think there's a good chance with the Bruins."

Meanwhile, Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm and Brandon Carlo make up a stout defense core for the long haul. Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman, likely the future workhorse, will be there as the bedrock of it all. 

Krejci feels the B's will remain in good hands.

“Boston, there’s been this culture we all kind of created,” he said. “The older I got, I just tried to lead by example, be myself, be respectful to the culture of the Bruins and tried to carry it on. Now you see the young guys coming in and the older guys teaching them the ropes, and now they’ve got it. Pasta’s got it, Chuck McAvoy, all the younger guys understand what it means to wear that jersey, and there’s no doubt in my mind that they’ll be great leaders. Then they’ll hand the torch to the younger generation. ... It’s going to be fun watching them. 

"It’ll be fun seeing the young kids grow up to be good leaders. I really hope they’re going to get it done soon, so if I still have friends on the team I can get invited to a Cup day.”