The 80's and 90's Bruins had Ray Bourque and Cam Neely. And now the modern day Bruins seem to have locked their core duo in place for at least three more years with the freshly inked extensions given to Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara.

Certainly not in the class of the aforementioned Hall of Famers, both Bergeron, drafted by the Bruins in the second round of the 2003 NHL Draft, and Chara, who signed with the club in the summer of 2006, have been key factors in the Bruins' reemergence as a contender in the NHL.

Establishing an increasingly noticeable playoff presence after three straight trips to the postseason, the newest captain/alternate-captain duo in Boston will be the primary bearers of the burden that Ray and Cam couldn’t take off the Hub‘s back; The burning desire to deliver a Stanley Cup back to the Bruins.

In a Cup-drought that’s approaching 40 years, the B’s have made their strides, but have been damned by injuries, inconsistent play, and oh--those spirit-crushing meltdowns when it comes time to win past April. Taking their lumps in the postseason while gaining invaluable experience, these extensions have perhaps rightfully solidified the ideology that the chances of the Cup returning to Boston in the near future as more than just fantasy.

Since arriving to Boston as an 18-year-old French-Canadian kid who spoke close to no English, Boston quickly endeared themselves to their foreign-exchange student of hockey. Under the tutelage of gritty winger Martin LaPointe during his first season in the Hub, Bergeron quickly made an impression for the fans in the Hub.

Checking in with 16 goals and 39 points in 71 contests his rookie season, his most important goal coming in Game 1 of the first-round playoffs against the rivaled Canadiens in overtime, it didn’t take long for Bergeron to become the projected future face of the B‘s.

But when the club traded then-captain Joe Thornton to the San Jose Sharks in 2005, the pressure for Bergeron to become the team’s number one center was thrown upon him faster than anticipated--but in what prove to be a true judgment of his character, the young gun answered the bell. Tallying 73 points in 81 games, including a career-high 31 goals, the results were everything Bruins fans wanted and more. However, it was clear--Bergeron couldn’t do this on his own.

Insert the tallest player in league history.

Zdeno Chara, a towering defensemen free-agent to be from Ottawa, embodied everything you’d want from a defensemen. He was mean, could captain a power-play from the point, and was one of those players you simply loathed unless he was on your side. Standing at 6’9”, the Slovakian defensemen arrived to Boston in the summer of 2006, signing a five-year deal and becoming the team’s newest captain.

At first, the results weren’t there and the motives behind the new regime to bring Chara into the fold were in question. With a putrid -21 rating in his first season with the Bruins, the blue-liner seemed simply forced to do too much under coach Dave Lewis, ultimately hindering his potential for production as the ‘C‘. But as the summer came and went with the Bruins axing Lewis after just one season in favor of Claude Julien, there was a positive change in the air around the Bruins.

Surprising fans in 2007-08 with a postseason cup of tea against the Montreal Canadiens and returning to the playoffs next season, this time as division winners for the first time since the resumption of NHL play in 2005, the giant on the point led the Bruins to the top-seed in the Eastern Conference. While #33 thrived, the road for Bergeron continued on was that of a player trying to adapt back to the pace of the NHL after a near-long absence from the ice due to a Grade-3 concussion suffered in October 2007.

Once again falling in a decisive Game 7’s on home-ice on May 14th two years in a row in the Bruins‘ own form of Friday the 13th, the Boston Bruins made their adjustments and geared themselves up for the 2010-11 season with both Bergeron and Chara in the final year of their deals. But as rumored all summer-long, Peter Chiarelli made what could to prove his best move since manning the office on Causeway Street by keeping both players in town with long-term deals that may very-well extend the Bruins’ opportunity to bring Lord Stanley back to Boston.

In a season that could be looked upon as all-systems go with mounting cap-issues for the B’s, the time for Boston seems to be now--but thanks to the smart decisions, it necessarily doesn’t have to be.

Perhaps the final go-round for players like Mark Recchi and Marco Sturm as viable NHL-contributors, the Bruins have locked up their two main components of their core while having players such as David Krejci, Nathan Horton, Milan Lucic, Marc Savard and the newest Bruin Tyler Seguin locked up on long-term deals up front. Also complementing this core that could keep the Bruins competitive for years to come, the B’s boast a tandem like no other in the NHL featuring Tuukka Rask and Tim Thomas.

However, the championship won’t be crowned after just two games and fans will still be hesitant to invest their faith in the club until they find ways to win when it matters most (the Bruins are 0-3 in Game 7‘s since 2008). And while the Bruins’ future success with Bergeron and Chara has yet to be determined, knowing that the most important members of the Bruins roster have been locked into the organization for at least three more seasons after this in the case of Bergeron, seven in the case of Chara, must provide some more restful night’s sleep in Boston.

But as the moves made by the front-office have shown us, the firm belief in the Hub may be that knowing (your core) is half the battle.

However, let’s not disregard the potential ugly truth that could be reality; Despite their promising young core and future, Boston could end up as yet another footnote and go down as yet another club in franchise history who once again failed to capitalize on their chance to seize the Cup in the prime of their careers.



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