David Krejci Going To ‘Calmly Think About What’s Next’

The intrigue continues with David Krejci and the Boston Bruins after he sent out a message through his Czech hockey team about heading back to the United States for the summer.

The picture showed the 36-year-old chugging a beer on a plane headed for the States with a Bronze medal from the IIHF World Championships around his neck as he wants to “calmly think about what to do next.” It would appear both a return to the NHL and a return to HC Olomouc are on the table at this point for a player that’s still near the top of his game.

“Dnes odlétám do USA, dám si cestou ještě jedno pivko na oslavu bronzu a pak budu v klidu přemýšlet, co dál. Času je dost a možností spousta, z nichž jedna velmi reálná je i pokračování v dresu Olomouce.”

#46 David Krejčí pic.twitter.com/ayzpVb8W1o

— HC Olomouc (@hcolomouc) June 3, 2022

Krejci went home to the Czech Republic this past season after 14 seasons with the Boston Bruins, mostly as their No. 2 center behind Patrice Bergeron, and posted 20 goals and 46 points in 51 games for HC Olomouc while living out his dream of his family living in the Czech culture they missed out on while he played in North America from the time he was a teenager.

Krejci and David Pastrnak then teamed up for Czechia in the World Championships for the Czech Republic’s first medal-winning performance in over a decade that included a hat trick from Pastrnak in the medal round game against the United States. Certainly, the playmaking Czech center isn’t ruling out a return to the Boston Bruins at this point, and it feels like he’s enjoying the “will he or won’t he?” drama while making videos like this with his buddy Pasta.

David Pastrnak asks David Krejci if he’s coming back to Boston next season… pic.twitter.com/FGhy6qwcHV

— Erin Walsh (@ewalsh90) May 31, 2022

Certainly, the Boston Bruins are leaving the door open for Krejci to return while hoping that his time with Pastrnak at the World Championships might sway him toward a Boston return.

“Not recently,” said Sweeney when asked this week if he’d had any conversations with Krejci recently. “David Pastrnak, along with Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark have all traveled over to the World Championships and will play. Knowing how close they are, I’m sure there will be a conversation that maybe filters back to me. I certainly kept in touch with David and his camp throughout the year. He had hard decisions to make in terms of the promise he had made to his family overall. Just ultimately decided to stay and see it through. I’m sure at some point in time if he decides he wants to return, then hopefully I get a call and we can have a conversation. But I have not gone down that path for several months.

“It has to line up for a number of reasons. Still, it looks like [Krejci] values playing the game and being highly competitive and was highly productive. Seamlessly would probably fall back into knowing what our team is like and what we’re trying to accomplish, but again, it’s a hypothetical for me at this point in time. I’ll cross that bridge when it’s presented.”

The Boston Bruins could absolutely use Krejci coming back, with or without Patrice Bergeron back in the hold. If Bergeron retires then a returning Krejci could bridge the gap setting things up for Brad Marchand and Pastrnak while the Boston Bruins seek out a long-term replacement as a No. 1 center, and if Bergeron comes back then they could have one last run with the Bergeron-Krejci one-two punch at center at the tail end of Boston’s Stanley Cup window with the current group.