NHL Notes: Bergeron lending his greatness to young B's taken at BSJ Headquarters (Bruins)

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Patrice Bergeron has been taking a bit of a more visible role helping out the current group of Bruins players on and off the ice, and his presence, even in only a cameo capacity, can only bode good things for the Black and Gold.

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NHL Notes: Bergeron lending his greatness to young B's

By Joe Haggerty

Mar 29, 2026 • 2:23 pm

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It isn’t anything in an official capacity at this point, but there is something overwhelmingly great about seeing Patrice Bergeron on the ice in coaching gear, giving pointers to the current Bruins players during practice.

Bergeron was on the ice at Warrior Ice Arena this past week, working with Fraser Minten and Morgan Geekie in particular, with the future Hall of Famer putting the 21-year-old Minten through the paces of his quick wrist shot from the bumper position on the power play. With Geekie, it also involves some bumper work, as well as putting a good tip on pucks around the net front, an area where Geekie will be able to pick up a few more goals when things slow down offensively, as they have with just one goal in 14 games during the month of March.

“He was a staple in the bumper here and kind of revolutionized how that [position on the PP] was played being able to score while moving it all over,” said an appreciative Geekie after the tutoring work on the ice. “It’s always good to have a legend like that who can teach you some things.”

Bergeron has obviously kept a pretty high hockey profile since retirement with his alternate Emmy Award-winning “Unobstructed Views” NESN broadcast of Bruins games with Andrew Raycroft and Tuukka Rask, his community work, and commercials for a number of local companies, including Sal’s Pizza, and getting involved with coaching his growing children in youth hockey.

But he’s also been very careful about any on-ice involvement with the Boston Bruins over the last few years in terms of coaching and/or a potential future in the front office or management, even as longtime teammates like Zdeno Chara, Adam McQuaid, Chris Kelly and Marco Sturm have obviously become very involved with the Original Six organization.

Many thought it was Bergeron’s first time on the ice tutoring the NHL guys on Friday, but Sturm indicated he’s been around periodically this season and has an open door to come help anytime the opportunity presents itself.

“He’s been here a bunch of times. You just didn’t know it,” said Sturm with a wink and a smile to the media after Friday’s practice. “He’s obviously not here every day like [Zdeno Chara], but because it’s Bergeron – the best in the business – and because we have a very good relationship…you try to get him in every once in a to give those guys a few tips and to work on some stuff.

“That was not his first time here, but that was the first time you could see him here. He was working on some things with [Geekie] and [Minten] and a few other guys behind the scenes. I think it’s just great. You want to take that opportunity to pick his brain because he’s just the best.”

Clearly, a guy like Minten has plenty he can learn from Bergeron as a young, two-way center that prides himself on his details just as much as any offensive production that comes from his role centering David Pastrnak and Marat Khusnutdinov. And that’s really the point to maximize the experience a young potential No. 1 center can absorb like a sponge just from being around the best two-way center, and one of the biggest winners, of his generation.

“Lots of good stuff. That’s the second time we’ve kind of done that and the first time we’ve worked on the bumper stuff on the ice,” said Minten. “We got in a lot of reps there and you obviously listen to the insight because he was doing it there at a high level for a really long time.

“You take the little things that you can, and I’ve been watching a lot of faceoff video with him too. He was one of the best faceoff guys when he played and he obviously knows a lot more than I do, so you can learn. It’s an unreal [resource]. Anytime you can learn from one of the best you are going to try to.”

It’s unmistakable how quickly the Bruins were able to turn things around this season as former players from the 2011 Stanley Cup era team have taken a hands-on involvement with the NHL product, and it is absolutely not a coincidence at all, given the quality of people that were involved in that long run of excellence for the Bruins. Adding another voice of greatness like Bergeron to those already involved in the day-to-day hockey operations just keeps elevating how Boston is doing their hockey business these days.

ONE TIMERS

*James Hagens continues to get better with each passing game spent with the Providence Bruins, and he got on the scoresheet with his first goal as a pro in Saturday night’s home win over Bridgeport. It was a bullet one-timer on the power play in exactly the kind of play that has Bruins fans salivating, thinking about what the 19-year-old could add to a Boston man-advantage unit that has been struggling down the stretch.

Hagens seemed a little tentative early in his first game for the P-Bruins after practicing just once before jumping into an AHL game, but there was much less of that in his second AHL contest, where he was a factor offensively and didn’t shy away from sticking his nose into the American League action that can get nasty at times.

Hagens still isn’t doing anything that would seemingly force Boston’s hand to sign him to an entry-level contract and elevate him to playing with the big boys at the NHL level, but that could be coming in the near future for the former Boston College phenom and last summer’s seventh overall pick in the draft.

*Some great performances in the NCAA tournament from Boston Bruins prospects, including goals from defenseman Elliott Groenewold (2024 fourth round pick) and forward Chris Pelosi (third round pick in the 2023 draft) in Quinnipiac’s win over Providence before ultimately falling to North Dakota in the regional finals.

Groenewold continues to impress with really good size and a cannon shot for a D-man prospect that’s done nothing but improve in the college ranks after putting together some impressive development camps for the B’s over the last few years.

And Will Zellers didn’t really light the lamp much for North Dakota, speaking of that team, but he was playing set-up guy for a lot of what NoDak was doing in advancing to the Frozen Four portion of the tournament. One would expect both Zellers and Boston College standout Dean Letourneau to return to the college ranks for another season of NCAA seasoning, but it’s a fabulous sign that Boston’s college prospects continue to shine on their respective development paths.

*Amazing to see the Blackstone Valley Regional Co-op hockey team visiting with the Bruins players earlier this week after winning a Rhode Island state hockey championship following the tragic shooting at Lynch Arena involving the family of player Colin Dorgan. The boys interacted with the Boston Bruins players on the ice during practice, took a group photo after B’s practice was over and even got a personal tour of the Warrior Ice Arena practice facility by Bruins head coach Marco Sturm.

There were tons of memorable moments and a liveliness inside the B’s dressing room as the Bruins players clearly enjoyed the presence of the high school players just as much as the Rhode Island kids loved being there, but their spotting David Pastrnak getting worked on at the massage table was probably the funniest moment.

“Just to have them here, they were all so excited to see it. To see David [Pastrnak] in the training room just getting a massage – just little things like that, they were like, ‘Oh, wow.’ They were asking about which car he is driving. It was great. That was probably the best moment today,” said Sturm. “For me, that’s why hockey is the best. It’s not just what happened on the ice, but also off the ice. I think it’s just a wonderful thing that these guys have the experience to come here.”

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