Bergeron/By Sharon Bradley

Bruins center Patrice Bergeron got a great season-opening present today when he not only was able to sign a three-year contract extension with the club but also got the deal done before the opening of the Bruins’ regular season.

General manager Peter Chiarelli said he and Bergeron’s agent Kent Hughes had been negotiating for a while, even during the team’s European road trip, and finalized the deal Thursday. As for Bergeron, the longest-tenured member of the Bruins, he said today after the deal became official that there was no anxiety on his part about the new contract.

“I knew it was going to get done because at the end of the day I was the one that was going to say yes no matter what,” said the Bruins alternate captain. “I wanted to stay in Boston.”