Bergeron becoming 1st-ballot Hockey Hall of Famer 'a no-brainer'

It was seven months ago that Patrice Bergeron sat in the audience at the 2025 Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony, listening to the speech given by Zdeno Chara. The defenseman thanked Bergeron, his longest-tenured teammate and effectively his co-captain over the 14 seasons they spent together with the Boston Bruins.

It was in that speech that Chara referred to Bergeron as “one of the greatest leaders and people I have ever met and played with.”

Now, it is Bergeron’s turn.

On Monday, Bergeron was named as part of the 2026 Hockey Hall of Fame class, which he will enter alongside five others: Brian Burke, as a builder, and players Carey Price, Pekka Rinne, Keith Tkachuk, and Cindy Curley. The 2026 induction ceremony is scheduled for Nov. 9 in Toronto.

“To me, it was a no-brainer,” said Claude Julien, who coached Bergeron from 2007-2017. “It’s got to mean a lot to him, especially on his first try, because he wasn’t a superstar, but he was a complete player. He was a coach’s dream because you could rely on him offensively in the big moments, you could rely on him defensively also in the big moments. (You could) rely on him for big face-offs.

“Every part of the game he was one of those guys that a coach could lean on when you really had to. Patrice was that player that could do it all.”

Which is to say that there was little doubt that Bergeron would get the call on this, his first chance at induction.

He had, after all, put together a near-bulletproof campaign over his 19 seasons in the NHL, all of them with the Bruins, who had selected him in the second round (No. 45) of the 2003 NHL Draft.

That started with his 200-foot play, which was good enough to earn him the Selke Trophy as the best defensive forward in the NHL a record six times, including his final two seasons in the League (2022 and 2023). That was in addition to the 1,040 points (427 goals, 613 assists) he put up in 1,294 regular-season games, plus 128 points (50 goals, 78 assists) in 170 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

Bergeron helped the Bruins reach the Stanley Cup Final three times (2011, 2013, 2019) during his tenure, lifting the trophy once (2011).

“I think over the years I got a lot of help from coaches and teammates,” Bergeron said about marrying the offensive and defensive aspects of his game. “I think about, let’s say, Claude Julien, that I had for a long time in Boston that really implemented the defensive side of my game. (He) figured out taking away the gray area and making it more black and white. I would really think the anticipation and using your instinct is also something that has helped me a lot on the defensive side of the game.

“But as I said, you can’t accomplish anything individually without your teammates, so I would feel like my teammates -- having a guy like Zdeno Chara, who was 6-9, 260 (pounds), takes a lot of space and helped me a lot. Closing those layers and having someone behind me like that has always been very helpful. So, I would say that’s the biggest thing.”

And just as Chara experienced twin honors last season, entering the Hall of Fame in November and seeing his No. 33 raised to the rafters on Jan. 15, so too will Bergeron. Four days ago, on Thursday, the Bruins announced that Bergeron’s No. 37 will become the 14th number retired by the franchise, following closely on the heels of Chara, who Bergeron succeeded as captain for the 2020-21 season.

This season, Bergeron will get his due.

“When you talk about Zdeno, who was a Hall of Famer last year, those guys had such a big impact on what we were trying to create in Boston, I’m not surprised that they are where they are today,” Julien said.

Because few players are more deserving.

“When you talk about Hall of Famers, it’s not just about the guy that scores goals or the guy that stops every goal, it’s the guy that did everything during the game,” Julien said.

“And not only did he do it in a great fashion, but what better athlete for your young kids to follow because Patrice, the way he handled himself off the ice, how he dealt with interviews, everything else, he really handled the whole situation of a hockey player on and off the ice as good as you could find.”

Bergeron is also one of only 30 players to be part of the Triple Gold Club, having won the Olympic gold medal twice with Canada (2010, 2014), the Stanley Cup, and an IIHF World Championship (2004).

“Being able to play with Patrice in the Olympics was special. The way he thinks the game and the dedication he had for both sides of the hockey puck was for sure a pleasure to be a teammate and not an opponent,” said Price, who as a goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens was a rival of Bergeron's in the NHL before playing together at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Bergeron spent Monday reminiscing about his family, about “the people that helped me along the way, sacrificed so much for me to be in this position.”

The phone call from the Hall of Fame, he said, was “pretty surreal.”

But even if it was surreal to him, even if Bergeron never really thought of himself as a Hall of Fame player, as one of the best in the game, it was hardly surreal or surprising for those who knew him best, those who played with him and watched him over the course of his two decades on the NHL stage.

“Not surprised at all,” Julien said. “But extremely happy for him.”