'Never A Right Moment To Retire' But Krejci At Peace With Decision After Stellar NHL Career

Longtime No. 2 center's retirement leaves Boston Bruins with a big hole in middle after Patrice Bergeron's similar retirement last month

David Krejci’s retirement announcement perfectly encapsulated what he was as a playmaking center for the Boston Bruins for 16 NHL season. The 37-year-old didn’t call a big press conference at TD Garden full of TV reporters and all the major Boston television networks, instead opting for a quick Monday morning zoom that allowed Krejci to show his dry wit, high intellect and the understated way he always went about deploying his prodigious skill set on the ice.

Krejci hosted the zoom call with reporters from his home in South Carolina where his wife and children lived last season while he embarked on a solo hockey trip in Boston with the Bruins. It wasn’t always easy for him being away from his wife Naomi or his two children, and it was just as challenging coaxing one last full NHL season out of his aging body.

Krejci missed 12 regular season games and three Stanley Cup playoff games with nagging injuries that would have required summer surgery if he wanted to keep playing hockey this season and beyond. Instead Krejci decided “there’s never a right time or a right moment to retire from the NHL” while walking away from the NHL knowing his body could no longer withstand the rigors of an 82-game regular season followed by two months of playoffs if everything went well.