Boston Bruins bring back Bergeron, Krejci for another season; extend Zacha

Everyone knew it was coming.

When Patrice Bergeron revealed Monday that he told general manager Don Sweeney he would be coming back before free agency even began, the collective reaction among hockey people was, "This is barely news."

But now the thing we all knew was coming has officially come: Bergeron, along with David Krejci, are back with the only NHL team they've ever played for. Both signed for small-money, bonus-laden one-year contracts that effectively kick the Bruins' salary cap crunch another year down the road.

Couple that with the one-year extension for Pavel Zacha ($3.5-million), and it's not hard to see what the plan is in Boston this season.

The Bruins will be right up against the cap ceiling this season, even with the acknowledgement that Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk will miss the first several weeks of the season as they recover from summer surgeries. Mike Reilly and Bergeron also had operations in June but their recovery timeline set them up to come back right around the start of training camp.