Patrice Bergeron Opens Up About Possibility Of Coaching Someday
BOSTON — Patrice Bergeron was one of the smartest, most responsible hockey players of his generation. Coaching seemingly would be the natural next step for the recently retired star, right?
Not so fast.
Bergeron isn’t quite sure what the future holds after announcing his retirement this week from the NHL after 19 impressive seasons. While there’s no doubting his hockey acumen — he’s often lauded for being one of the NHL’s most intelligent players — Bergeron doesn’t sound like someone itching to get behind the bench.
“I don’t think it’s in the cards for now,” he said during a press conference Wednesday at TD Garden. “I mean, never say never, and we’ll see what can happen eventually, but for now, as I said earlier, I have a lot of catching up to do at home, and I wanted to kind of take time to rest and really take time for myself as well and unwind.”
Bergeron also has a wife and four kids at home. After nearly two decades grinding away as a professional hockey player, Bergeron made it clear his family is going to take top billing. To say it’s time to recharge the batteries would be an understatement.
Bergeron certainly has the ability to coach, specifically seeing something on the ice, processing it and communicating what he sees to others. He obviously did that for nearly 20 years on the Bruins bench, but he showed his hockey IQ this past spring when he was away from the team, too. Bruins coach Jim Montgomery, who believes Bergeron would be an “excellent” coach someday, revealed Bergeron was texting with assistant coach and ex-teammate Chris Kelly while recovering from a back injury in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“You feel helpless. It’s like the first time you retire and become a coach. You don’t have any impact on the ice, (and) it’s like, how do you help?” Montgomery told reporters in April during the Florida series. “One, he’s an incredibly bright mind for the game. The stuff that he shared, whether it was stuff on neutral zone or O zone or D zone, it was poignant.”
For now, though, it sounds like Bergeron is going to be keeping those thoughts largely to himself.
“Never say never, but for now, I don’t have a want or will to coach,” he said.
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