(Before we jump into this, I think it’s become clear that someone in the Boston Bruins’ front office knows my schedule. Going on a boat for the Fourth of July with friends? Trade Tyler Seguin. Out at a holiday weekend cookout? Sign Jarome Iginla. Decide to take a vacation? Finalize contracts for Tuukka Rask and Patrice Bergeron. Now, I’m not suggesting that Peter Chiarelli and company are following me around as I live my live, but Peter Chiarelli and company, please stop following me around as I live my life. It’s weird and I hate it.)

On the expected-and-confirmed Bergeron and Rask signings, I’m not sure where to start, so let’s start with the obvious point: I don’t know how else to say it, so here it is -- Patrice Bergeron is Boston Bruins hockey. Simple enough, no?

The longest tenured Bruin, in the Hub since being drafted by the club with the 45th overall pick in 2003, the B’s were happy to confirm that the Quebec-born center will continue to hang on to that title (and then some) with the finalization of an eight-year, $52 million extension last Friday. “He embodies a lot of what the Bruins stand for,” Boston general manager Peter Chiarelli said today. “He’s a responsible player. He’s a hard player. He’s a leader. He’s a clutch player. He’s just done a classic way of carrying himself that I like to be part of and the Bruins like to be part of.”

It’s an extension that’ll keep Bergeron in town ‘til 2022, and likely set him up to retire in Black and Gold, but one that also reinforces the fact that the image the Bruins’ offense is built in -- one that’s hard to play against and offensively capable -- will remain intact so long as No. 37 is out there.

“He’s a leader. He stands for what we stand for. He’s proud to wear a Bruins logo. He sets a great example. All these things,” said Chiarelli, adding, “Patrice and I and his agent talked about it he knows he could have got more on the open market without question. That makes it significant to getting it done early. There is no secrets here so, again, I credit it to Patrice to helping the Bruins.”

Helping the Bruins since coming into the league as a soft spoken forward with limited range of the English language -- mentored by veteran Marty Lapointe -- the evolution of Bergeron into one of the game’s best two-way centers has been simply unbelievable. But it’s most certainly been welcomed by a Boston franchise that’s never given up on Bergeron’s skill-set despite a multitude of what could’ve been career-changing head injuries, suffered back in 2007 and 2008.

Injuries and all, when it came to Bergeron and his on-ice play and off-ice demeanor, Chiarelli and the rest of the Black-and-Gold’s front office knew they had a keeper.

“When you’re looking at giving a long term contract to a player, you look at everything and you accept a lot of the risks. But with a person of [Bergeron]’s character, who’ve we obviously closely monitored his recovery over the years and it’s not without risk. But Patrice is a terrific character guy and he’s shown his resiliency and he’s – so we’re comfortable with the risks and it certainly isn’t something we took lightly,” admitted Chiarelli of the risk of an eight-year deal for a player with four concussions to his name in nine years as a pro.

“We felt very strongly about Patrice as a player and as a person and would accept some of these risks. [Longer contacts] could be from perspective of performance but we try and give it to guys who we think have real high character and will continue to perform and increase their performance and Patrice falls into that category.”

Recording 10 goals and 32 points in 42 games this past season, it shouldn’t come as a shock that the 2013 playoffs brought more folkloric playoff successes to No. 37’s resume, as he was the goal-scoring on both the tying and winning overtime marker in the Bruins’ historic Game 7 comeback over the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round, and ended the postseason by admirably playing through a separated shoulder, broken rib, and punctured lung.

For any of us, it’s an absurd thought. For Bergeron, however, it’s doing what he can to help Boston.

Ultimately, that’s where it’ll always come back in the case of Bergeron. No matter the deficit, no matter his physical ailments, Bergeron’s a classic old time hockey gamer for the B’s.

And that’s why this deal -- keeping him in Boston ‘til 2022, when Bergeron will be approaching 36 -- was a no-brainer for the Bruins. The B’s are clear on keeping the Quebec native a career-long Bruin, and an example of what every player coming into the system should be. The most obvious point in all of this is that Bergeron has gradually gotten better every year since the start of the 2009-10 season. It seems as every fall the 6-foot-2 centermen returns to Boston comes with a new improvement to his well rounded game, and that you just can’t teach that kind of hunger.

Getting it at a $6.5 million cap-hit over the next eight years, too? Well, that’s just a bonus.

On the flip-side, sometimes you have to overpay to keep that kind of talent in town.

Goaltender Tuukka Rask took a huge risk last summer when it came to his contract with the Boston Bruins. With Tim Thomas reportedly (and actually) taking the 2012-13 season off, and with Rask a restricted free agent, the Finnish-born netminder had the chance to shake the Black-and-Gold down for every penny they had. But rather than stick the B’s up, the former first round pick told management that he wanted to ‘prove himself capable’ of handling the Bruins’ starting gig, signing a one-year deal worth just $3.5 million.

Whether it was admitted or not from B’s fans hesitant to move on from the highly successful Thomas Era of B’s hockey, Rask’s inking of such a deal was a favor (or “discount”) to the Bruins, and with Tuukka intent on proving himself, it’s impossible to say he didn’t do just that in a lockout-shortened 2013 campaign. Leading the Bruins to second Stanley Cup Final appearance in three years, and finishing the postseason with a .940 save percentage, it’s also impossible to say that the Bruins made a bad call in rewarding their 26-year-old franchise netminder with the starting keys to the Boston crease with an eight-year, $56 million contract.

Keeping Rask under contract until 2021 with a $7 million cap-hit, making him one of just two goalies in 2013-14 to have such a cap hit (Nashville’s Pekka Rinne has the other), there’s really no doubt that the Bruins paid top-dollar to keep Rask in a B’s sweater, but can you really argue it?

Starting 34 of the Bruins’ 48 games, equating to a 58-start pace over an 82-game season, Rask proved himself to be a dependable netminder from both a consistency and durability point, avoiding the long losing streaks or minor injuries that had haunted his previous three years as an NHL goalie, going 19-10-5 and posting a .929 save percentage with five shutouts.

Rask was, in a word, consistent, and when it comes back to it, that’s really been the only knock on Rask’s game in the Hub.

Hampered by wild inconsistencies in 2010-11 (and ultimately benched due to Thomas’ unreal hot streak all year long), and suffering a season-ending groin injury the following season (though he returned to back Thomas up in Game 6 and 7 of the Bruins’ first round series loss to the Washington Capitals), the doubts as to whether or not Rask could be the guy to supercede Thomas have without question been put to bed, and if anybody’s denying that at this point, they’re being willfully ignorant, really.

But when it came to the new deal for the real deal, did the Bruins overpay? Sure, I guess.

Did they have a choice? No, not really.

Whether you want to look at in terms of the years (eight years is a mighty long time to commit to an NHL goaltender) or the dollar amount that’ll make Rask the league’s highest paid goaltender in 2013-14, this was the Bruins working themselves into a situation where they simply had to scratch the back of a goaltender that scratched theirs the year prior.

In no world would the Bruins be right to suggest that Rask take yet another discount -- and lose some free agent years no less -- just to prevent the front office from spending too much on their goaltending situation. Options in Providence and below, namely Malcolm Subban, Niklas Svedberg, and even Zane Gothberg, aren’t close to being NHL ready, and without Rask, the Bruins were screwed.

The entire world knew this, so why the shock about the contract?

In reality, it's entirely possible that Rask's contract becomes the norm in say, three years, when the cap continues to go up while names like Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Miller, and Cory Schneider are up for new deals. It's also not outlandish to envision Rask continuing to put up strong numbers (the Finnish netminder has 66 wins and a .929 save-percentage in 138 career games) playing in the Bruins' defense-first system.

Playing a cap-conscious game, you'll always win some and lose some, but with both of these guys locked into Boston for close to a decade, it's clear that the winning will outweigh the losing.

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