’10-11 Bruins Season in Review:
David Krejci
Krejci/By S. Bradley
Regardless of his availability to the Bruins this season, Marc Savard was probably never going to fall into his top form this season.
So the Bruins needed someone else to step up and serve as the type of No. 1 center that puts opposing defenders on edge and makes opposing coaches worry about match-ups.
By the end of the 2010-11 season, David Krejci was that player for the Bruins.
During the regular season, he tied for the team lead in points despite missing some games due to a concussion. After a slow start to the playoffs, he was lethal when the stakes were raised to their highest levels. In all situations, the line centered by Krejci with Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton on his flanks was a threat.
The Bruins had a vision for Krejci a couple years ago when he was starting to come into his own. He’s fulfilling that promise now and should be a mainstay of the organization for the better part of the rest of this decade.
Stats
Regular season: 75 GP, 13-49-62, plus-23
Playoffs: 25 GP, 12-11-23, plus-8
Contract status: Signed through 2011-12 at a cap hit of $3.75 million
Best regular-season moment: Krejci enjoyed a two-goal game against Tampa Bay in December, but probably his best performance came on one rush in Vancouver during the only Bruins-Canucks matchup of the regular season. Krejci carried the puck end to end before he fed Milan Lucic for what turned out to be the game-winning goal against the league’s best team. Krejci was also plus-2 on the night.
Best playoff moment: Remember in 2010 when Krejci got injured against Philadelphia and the Bruins’ second-round series with the Flyers went to crap? Well, this season against that same team Krejci made a statement about how much he meant to the Bruins and the difference he would’ve made had he been healthy in ’10. In Game 1, he registered four points (two goals), in Game 2 he scored the overtime game-winer and in Game 3 he recorded three points (one goal). For good measure, he added an assist in the sweep-concluding fourth game and finished the series with 4-5-9 totals.
Worst moment: Krejci registered just one point, a goal, in the Bruins’ first-round seven-game win over Montreal. For the seven games, he recorded just 13 shots on net and was greatly outplayed by the Canadiens’ top defense pair of Hal Gill and P.K. Subban.
Regular-season grade: B
Playoffs grade: A-minus. That first round against the Habs and his struggles to generate much on the power play were the only things that tarnished a stellar championship run.
Carnac predicts … Krejci continues to grow into his role as a two-way force at center and is one of the league’s most-coveted restricted free agents under the new CBA next summer.
“The Matrix” is one of my favorite players. He was screening Price one one, and made the great pass on the other on Horton’s two Game 7 winners.
He outscored everyone in the playoffs to include several Hart candidates, and winners. He just turned 25. Let him continue to develop.
I’ll take Krejci and Bergeron as my top two centers any day and especially in the playoffs. I won’t babble on about why because its been adequately pointed out in these posts. These guys are proven Bruins heros and I wouldn’t want to see anyone in their place.
I have every confidence that David Krejci can turn into a point per game player, especially as the chemistry with his current linemates continues to develop – that unit needs to stay together. DK already has a 73 point season (with Rydes and Wheels as his linemates!), and if he hadn’t had the concussion (which also slowed his production once he returned), or been bumped off the top line briefly when they were trying to sort out where Savvy should play, he would have been right there again this year- easily. Lucic is still improving, Horton has room for improvement on his regular season production – especially considering he basically hit a bazillion posts, or missed every net he shot at for 1/4 of the year – and DK is only just 25 and getting better himself. Not to mention, the guy is responsible defensively. Love this player.
TCL,
Agreed, that’s more or less what I was going for.
David I don’t think Krejci will ever be a Toews either.
I am not sure he will ever crack the top of a list of “best” centers in the league (although I think Bergeron does when the list involves defensive play). I think Krejci’s strength is that he fits into the Bruins style of play which generally isn’t predicated on recruiting or looking for the elite center. I think the Bruins are more of a club that wants to find good talent in that mid tier and rely on depth than a few really good players at the elite level. I think if you started to list best/elite centers Krejci probably doesn’t make the top 15 of most lists, but I bet he falls somewhere in the 15 to 25 on a lot of them.
Krecji is not an elite-level playmaker, nor an elite-level scorer. He is good at both, but much of his playmaking is predicated on having adequate space, so he will play better with certain players (those who can make space) than with others. He isn’t a physical presence, so he can’t “do it all” but Savard never was a physical presence either. IF and only IF he can continue to score in addition to his documented playmaking ways can he be a topline center. That said, a player like Brad Richards is more an asset than Krecji to a club at this point, but we may yet see Krecji mature to that point. I think his upside is limited, so as to say he will never be quite as good as Savard was in his prime, or Towes promises to yet be. I think he will be a servicable #1 and a great #2 with the right kind of talent surrounding him.
All that said, I love this guy and hope he exceeds my expectations and proves me wrong (makes his postseason scoring rate into a habit and then some). I think he can be a regular 70 point man, but not sure if he can do point per game pace year in and year out.
Honestly I imagine he probably doesn’t think much of it. I think the fans care far more about the fights and rivalries than the players do. The players know it is a business and they will happily hit hard and fight hard on the ice, but they all know for the vast majority of them they could be traded to a rival team.
I am sure there are some players who really don’t like each other and would struggle to adjust to being teammates, but I am not sure that bout between them during the regular season is going to mean much.
Wonder what Krejki thinks of Pouliot having a stall next to him in the dresssing room.
Lock this man down, ASAP. 5 years, 25M sounds about right to me. He has the potential to outplay that deal, and still become a free agent in time for one more long term payday. I really want to see a deal done this summer.
The only thing more annoying than this whole #1 center B.S. is the talk about Seguin and his “natural position.” Who cares? They’re hockey players. We just won the Cup with DK as on our top line. I’d say it’s settled.
I think he earned a contract comparable to Bergeron’s.
I don’t think he is super strong on the PP-although not sure if this is his style or his youth. I think it is sometimes easy to forget that Krejci is still pretty young and really hasn’t been THE first line center until this year, and even then up until the Hunwick hit I think most people expected Savard to take on that role once again.
I love the guy.
My frustrations with Krecji are two fold – He’s not a top finisher. He was better in the POs, but generally he drives me crazy b/c he can’t bury it well enough. The second thing is that he’s not as slick on the PP as I’d like. Not his fault I suppose – maybe TS will soon take that role on the half wall. What I love about DK is how he plays in the POs. This is the third year in a row that he’s really turned it on. That’s the asset you want your team spending its doh on – and you gotta figure he’s at least getting Bergeron money if not more come next year.
Krejci will always be too small to be what is considered to be an “elite” center in this league despite his elite vision, passing skills and puck handling ability. I love his ability to raise his game for the playoffs. I would love to see him shoot more often as I think he has an accurate shot and that cause goalies not to cheat by anticipating his passes to his linemates. In my opinion Montreral exposed what I consider to be his most serious defect. They hooked and interfered with him and he showed his frustration several times. Perhaps sessions with Timmy Thomas’ yoga instructor would help channel frustration into determination.
Krejci stepped up when he was needed to most.
I think Krejci is a player that needs some room to maneuver but he has nice vision and a nice pass and he is still a baby compared to many other centers in the league. I sometimes think Bruins fans underestimate the contributions Krejci makes and often doubt if he can handle being a number 1 center. I think his performance during the playoffs (well Montreal excepted) indicate he most certain can be a number 1 center since he managed to post the most points in the playoffs (more than Sedin, Kesler or Stamkos-all centers with higher regular season point totals and highly ranked among league centers) while his team wins the cup.
I don’t expect him to ever be Crosby, but he is a great player.