BHN Puck Links: Hats Off To Bergeron As Boston Bruins Captain

Congrats to Patrice Bergeron on being named the 20^th captain in the storied Original Six history of the Boston Bruins. The 35-year-old Bergeron was named captain while he skated in a scrimmage on the ice at Warrior Ice Arena on Thursday morning, but it wasn’t a very suspenseful development once Zdeno Chara departed for the Washington Capitals last week.

For this humble hockey writer, it’s a cool thing to see having covered Bergeron going all the way back to his rookie season in 2003-04 when he was a shy 18-year-old kid from Quebec with veterans like Jumbo Joe Thornton, Glenn Murray, Brian Rolston, Hal Gill, Sergei Samsonov and Mike Knuble all around him.

It’s not overstating things to call Bergeron’s captaincy one of the most well-deserved honors in Bruins history. Essentially Bergeron had been co-captain of the Boston Bruins for at least the last couple of seasons while sharing the honor with Zdeno Chara, but now the longtime B’s player gets a chance to lead with veteran leaders like David Krejci and Brad Marchand supporting him.

Bergeron is one of the all-time greats in the long Original Six history of the B’s and truly one of the best people to ever come through the doors at the Garden. For however long Bergeron stands as captain of the Black and Gold, they will have the kind of hard-working, accountable and welcoming leadership that usually breeds success on the ice.

Now on to the BHN puck links:

*It’s that time of year again: The top-100 NHL player list from ESPN.com that will surely get everybody talking…right! Right? (ESPN)

*The New Jersey Devils were able to welcome Sami Vatanen back into the fold as a free agent signing after trading him away to the Carolina Hurricanes at last season’s trade deadline. (NBC Sports)

*Nate Schmidt with a microphone on during training camp with the Vancouver Canucks is plenty entertaining.

MIC’D UP | An absolute beauty… the new guy won’t have any trouble fitting in with his new teammates. Listen in as Nate Schmidt is mic’d up during #CanucksCamp, presented by @TD_Canada. pic.twitter.com/wMVWJ4O1BN

— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) January 7, 2021

*Interesting piece where former trouble-maker Andrew Shaw opens up about concussions and life after hockey where things have taken a good turn for him post-playing career. (NBC Sports Chicago)

*The Pittsburgh Penguins need some “greasy, fast speed” according to FOH (Friend of Haggs) Dan Kingerski and Jason Zucker might just be the guy to provide it. (Pittsburgh Hockey Now)

*For something completely different: Apparently there is going to be a second season of Loki on Disney Plus. I love it. (Comicbook.com)