HE STILL MAINTAINS LOFTY GOALS
him really well.’ He was always on the puck, creating something out of nothing. He was competing all the time and that’s the hockey that I like, keep moving forward and being good on the forecheck, the hard skill if you will, not overly fancy but more to the point. Obviously he’s got tremendous skills but the way that he plays, it’s always a fast, high pace.”
The competitiveness that has made Marchand a great player, of course, has also gotten the best of him sometimes. He’s been suspended eight time for a total of 28 games, the last one being his lengthiest, a six-game furlough when he punched and high-sticked Pittsburgh goalie Tristan Jarry in 2022. He’s also been fined four times for a total of $24,500.
The cooler-headed Bergeron did his best to reign him in — to a certain extent — during his early years.
“I’m not going to lie, it was happening a lot. I think composure is something I’m pretty good with and staying even-keeled during games. And Marchy, he thrives on those emotions and the energy and sometimes you do need that,” said Bergeron. “So I was trying not to get in the way of that and take anything away so he’d be able to be at his best, but also there was a line that sometimes he would cross and it would take him away from his game. At times, I had to kind of remind him. But over the years, I didn’t have to do it as much. When I said I had to do it a lot, it was more early and I just had to say a few words and he calmed down.”
But despite various toestubs throughout his career, Marchand just got better and better. When he played on a line with Bergeron and Sidney Crosby at the World Cup of Hockey in 2016, he served notice that he was in fact an elite player.
Earlier that summer, Bergeron flew up to Halifax to take part in camp with Nova Scotians Marchand and Crosby as well as some other NHLers and he saw how much Marchand wanted to shine.
“You could tell he was going into that World Cup to make an impression, make an impact and make a name for himself,” said Bergeron. “I saw the growth and I definitely noticed it in the 2016 World Cup. It definitely propelled him into being — and I’ve said it many times — one of the best left wingers of his generation.”
As he continued to establish himself as a top player in the league, Marchand also grew as a leader, well before he assumed the captaincy this season upon Bergeron’s retirement. Goalie Linus Ullmark said Marchand taught him the importance of maintaining a certain competitiveness every day when he first arrived in Boston two years ago.
“It just comes down to who he is as a person. He’s very passionate, he’s got the fire in his soul and he cares a lot,” said Ullmark. “So whenever I would have a down day or maybe struggling and not up to speed with the quality of what’s to be expected, he was always on me. It didn’t matter if it was a normal practice, day after a game, morning skate, he always goes out there battling and trying to be better. When I came here, I was a little relaxed in the mornings and didn’t really care if I let in a goal or not, because in my mind, I was thinking more about the game. But he actually told me a very good thing. The guys build off what (the goalies) do as well. So if we’re fired up and ready to go in the morning, the guys are going to see that and feel a lot safer and trust us, because they know we’re on. So that was a little bit of an eye-opener.”
Parker Wotherspoon did not grow up a Brad Marchand fan. Far from it. A Vancouver area native, he was in the Rogers Arena stands when Marchand scored a pair of goals in the Cup-winning Game 7 Bruin victory in 2011. But Wotherspoon, a 26-year-old AHL journeyman who is trying to carve out a niche with the B’s, said Marchand could not have been more welcoming to him when he was called up. There are no airs about Marchand, he said.
“He’s The Man,” said Wotherspoon with a smile.
But come practice time, it’s on.
“One time he got me pretty good with a reverse hit,” recalled Wotherspoon. “I told him afterward, ‘Man, I wanted to crosscheck you in the back after that.’ He said ‘Do it. Go right through me.’”
Marchand credits his work ethic to the players who created the template before him, like Zdeno Chara and Bergeron.
“I learned very early to follow the right guys. It’s something that Claude really pushed me to do. Try to watch Bergy and Z and the guys who really took care of themselves,” said Marchand. “You watch guys like that who are the best in the league at what they do, there’s a reason for it. It takes a lot of commitment, a lot of sacrifice. And it’s every single year. Everybody that comes in nowadays is so skilled and so talented, it’s almost harder now to keep up than it was back then and you almost have to work harder. It really just depends on how much guys want to accomplish and how long they want to play.”
Where Marchand ends up in the pantheon of the game is still to be determined. It seems like a foregone conclusion that his No. 63 will be raised to the Garden rafters at one point. The biggest honor that can be bestowed on a player is induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Charlie McAvoy recently said he belongs there, as did coach Jim Montgomery, who at one point had to game plan against him.
“You had to be aware of him. Just a dominant player who impacted every game,” said Montgomery.
When the subject of such things comes up, Marchand himself is of two minds. There’s still a lot he wants to accomplish in the game and one of his greatest fears is that looking back at his accolades will allow him to get a little too comfortable.
But when asked if the HHOF is a goal, he didn’t avoid the question.
“Yeah, it is,” said Machand. “That’s the ultimate recognition that a player can get, to be in the Hall of Fame. Is it achievable? I don’t know, but you see the amount of time I feel like I could still play. I don’t know what it takes to get there, but I’m going come to the rink every single day and try to get better and play as long as I can. If it happens, it happens. It’s not so much of a goal as (it would be) a dream come true. Butt that’s one of those things where you leave it all on the table and whatever happens, happens.”
And no one can say that Brad Marchand hasn’t left it all on the table.