Boston Bruins bring back David Krejci on one-year contract

David Krejci has returned to the Boston Bruins on a bonus-laden one-year contract, the club announced Monday.

The 36-year-old center will receive a $1 million base salary during the 2022–23 regular season with the potential to earn up to an additional $2 million in performance bonuses.

Krejci’s return to the Bruins comes after he left the team to play for Czech club HC Olomouc during the 2021–22 season. The Czech forward scored 20 goals and 46 points in 51 games back in his home country; he also scored four points in four games with Team Czechia at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

The Bruins originally selected Krejci in the second round (No. 63 overall) of the 2004 NHL Draft. The 6’0″, 188-pound pivot went on to platoon with Patrice Bergeron in Boston’s top six for 15 seasons, helping the team win the 2011 Stanley Cup and reach two additional championship series (2013, 2019).

Krejci surpassed 70 points on two separate occasions with the Bruins and led the team in playoff scoring in both the 2011 and 2013 Stanley Cup Final runs. More recently, he tallied eight goals and 44 points in 51 games with Boston during the 2020–21 regular season.

In 962 career regular-season games with the Bruins since 2006–07, Krejci has scored 215 goals and 730 points. The Sternberk, Czechia product ranks ninth on the Bruins’ all-time points leaderboard and places seventh in assists with 515, only one behind Wayne Cashman.

Only two Bruins have ever scored more playoff points than Krejci’s 124: Ray Bourque (161) and Patrice Bergeron (124), the latter of whom also signed a one-year deal with the team on Monday.