(Photo: Steve Babineau)

Throughout the offseason, TheHubofHockey will be posting daily report cards on each individual of the 2010-11 NHL Stanley Cup Champions, Boston Bruins.

In order of jersey number, each player will be highlighted. In today’s edition, we have Bruins Center, No. 37 Patrice Bergeron

Name: Patrice Bergeron
Position: Center
Shoots: Right
Age: 25
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 194 lbs.
Contract: $5 Million through 2013-14

2010-11 NHL Season stats:
Regular season: 80 GP, 22-35–57, plus-20, 26 PIM, 211 SOG
Playoffs: 23 GP, 6-14–20, plus-15, 28 PIM, 67 SOG

Line combinations (dobberhockey.com):
EV: Mark Recchi, Brad Marchand 27.61% %; 71.93% in post season
PP: Michael Ryder, David Krejci, 14.86%; Rich Peverley, Ryder 18.62%
PK: Marchand 49.65%

Anthony’s Take: After back-to-back 70 plus-point-seasons in the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons, Bergeron’s offensive game dipped, but his defensive skills blossomed. Bergeron has developed into one of the best two-way-centers in the game.

Bergeron had another good year for the Bruins this season. Bergeron finished third on the team with 57 points, just five points behind Milan Lucic and David Krejci for the team lead in points.

In the playoffs Bergeron was great again, his 20 points was good enough to tie him with Martin St. Louis and Daniel Sedin for third in playoff points.

One of the biggest assets Bergeron brings to the table is his skill in the faceoff circle. Bergeron won the fifth most faceoffs in all of the NHL, and finished the year winning 56.6% of his faceoffs.

Bergeron’s all-around-talent and leadership off and on the ice is what makes him such a special player.

Grade: A-

Marino’s Grade: Finding a player with the overall hockey knowledge and two-way instincts like Bergeron is no easy task. Bergeron was second among Bruins’ forwards in time on ice (TOI) with nearly 18 minutes per game. There’s also no surprise in seeing a distinct correlation with Bergeron’s SH/TOI and strong ability to kill penalties, and the Bruins’ overall penalty-killing success.

The “A” etched on his sweater is bound to lead to a “C” in due time. His leadership qualities both on and off the ice are contagious and his overall work ethic to show up every night and put 100-percent in every shift is a clear-cut case of leading by example.

Perhaps one of the more underrated stats in the entire NHL: the battle of the face-offs. Winning face-offs means more time on offense and less time on defense…and winning face-offs in the offensive zone eventually leads to scoring opportunities…and so on and so forth. Bergeron has been called upon time-and-time again to take face-offs in key situations, especially over the last three seasons

Grade: A