Bruins announce plans following Bergeron and Krejci retirements

Boston Bruins forward David Krejci became the second major retirement announcement in Boston this offseason, as his fellow veteran and longtime teammate Patrice Bergeron made it official late last month with his announcement that his playing days were through.

Needless to say, the Bruins team that hits the ice this fall is going to be looking considerably different than the team that skated off in shocking defeat after Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Quarter Finals against the Florida Panthers. And with their absences, the Bruins are now going to be relying more heavily on the likes of Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha.

According to head coach Jim Montgomery, who won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's best coach last season, they're comfortable with relying on them.

“I think [Zacha’s ceiling] is significantly higher,” Montgomery explained. “Not only is he physically prepared, more importantly I believe he’s ready for this mentally for the kind of minutes, the responsibility of having to be played in all situations — which he did really well last year — but they’re going to be more important minutes.”

"But I just think he’s mentally ready. He believes that he can do it. That’s the biggest step for a player. I have a lot of confidence that our top two lines will be very good because I believe Charlie Coyle knows he can do the job and will do the job, and Pavel Zacha does too.”

In the meantime, the Bruins know that this is their team moving forward, and they have to make the best of their circumstances that they've been preparing for. 

“In my mind, this is our team,” Montgomery said. “Ever since Krech made it official, we’d been thinking that this would be our team. Honestly, we were preparing this way since mid-June.”

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