Marchand/By S. Bradley
It was the ultimate rags to riches story during the Bruins’ 2010-11 Stanley Cup championship season, and now it may lead to even more riches.
The tale of Brad Marchand was almost as magical as the Bruins’ entire Cup run.
He showed up at training camp without a job, earned a spot on the fourth line, earned a midseason promotion to the second line and after scoring 21 goals in the regular season he added 11 more in the playoffs, including two in the Cup-clinching Game 7 victory.
Now as a restricted free agent, Marchand figures to become a multi-millionaire. And then he’ll have to continue to produce in order to earn those clams.
The Bruins are more than happy to fork over some extra cash after Marchand helped them end a 39-year drought.
Stats
Regular season: 77 GP, 21-20-41, plus-25
Playoffs: 25 GP, 11-8-19, plus-12
Contract status: Scheduled RFA July 1
Best regular-season moment: Marchand’s 20th goal of the season and first in 13 games was a big one March 27 in Philadelphia. Against one of the Bruins’ biggest rivals, Marchand scored on the power play with just 3:43 left in regulation to lift Boston to a 2-1 win that clinched the club a playoff berth.
Best playoff moment: While scoring twice in Game 7 against Vancouver was historic and his game-winning goal in Game 5 vs. Tampa Bay was a momentum-changer, Marchand didn’t score a playoff goal bigger than his shorthanded tally against the Canucks in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.
With the Bruins down 2-0 in the series and leading the game just 2-0 in the second period (without Nathan Horton), Marchand turned a penalty kill into a scoring opportunity that ended with a highlight-reel goal that saw him abuse Hart Trophy nominee Daniel Sedin, eventual Selke Trophy winner Ryan Kesler and Vezina Trophy finalist Roberto Luongo (not to mention defenseman Alex Edler) for a 3-0 lead en route to an 8-1 win.
Worst moment: March was a rough month for Marchand, who picked up a two-game suspension for his hit to the head of Columbus’ R.J. Umberger. But it didn’t get lower for the rookie than March 11 on Long Island, where head coach Claude Julien got so fed up with Marchand taking a bad penalty against the Islanders and in a previous game against Buffalo that the coach benched the forward for the entire third period.
Regular-season grade: B-plus
Playoff grade: A-minus. There were a couple questionable penalties along the way that were the only negatives in an amazing postseason for Marchand.
Carnac predicts … the Bruins find a way to lock up RFA Marchand long term and make him a part of their foundation along with Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara and Milan Lucic.
TCL – you’re painting some pretty sweet Picassos Bro! You know.. no matter what.. its going to be such a fun ride, these next few years. I’m really excited to watch this team develop together… They’re just a bunch of kids. They’re all going to get better, and they’re all going to mesh together more and more. The future is looking so good, but also super fun. I really think we’re going to be watching something kid of special. It won’t be Bossy-Islanders, or Gretzky-Oilers, but its going to be really fun.
Knock on wood – No one gets injured – Knock on wood.
Coach I could see splitting Horton and Looch up, but better to keep Looch with Krejci and Seguin and bump Horton down to Bergeron because both Horton and Seguin are rightie shooter and Marchand and Looch shoot left. Shoot I don’t think you ever see Looch line up on the right side.
But I could see trying to put two power forwards on both top lines, but I also admit I like the chemistry of Looch and Horton together-but a huge part of me would love to see what Seguin and Krejci could do together.
Coach – I’m with you. I’d love to see Seguin get a shot with those two (if they don’t make a play for a short-term deal with Leino or Cole), but I am skeptical how well they’d mesh.
But even more, I think that second line combo would be an absolute monster with Looch riding on it. An absolute Monster of a line.
David,
History or not, a war with China ain’t going to happen.
Anyways, wtf does this have to do with Hockey? I doubt too many players want to be locked up in CDN dollars for too long because it’s only been a short time our dollar’s been worth more than the US dollar. When things settle down, people will start investing in the US dollar (at least I hope so for Canada’s sake). The worst thing in the world for the job market in a global economy is to have the more expensive dollar.
Horton-Krejci-Segz
Marchand-Bergie-Lucic
Pevs-Kelly-Caron? (good competition for this spot!)
Thorny-Soup-Paille
Split up Horton and Looch to give both top lines some thump, and some scoring touch along with their slick/smart centers
What I love about him is that for a smaller guy in the NHL he is pretty darn good at battling along the boards and coming away with the puck. He is feisty and tenacious and he never gives up.
I think that is one reason he and Bergeron do so well together-they are both very good and getting the puck and keeping the puck.
Gotta say… probably my favorite goal of the year was his masterful shorty against the Nucks. Self-pass off the wall and then absolutely schooling Mr. Selke. Love that photo of him after he’d passed by the net, checking his momentum and firing back into the net with Luongo laying flat on his stomach. How’d that go again… “That save was hard for TT, but would have been easy for me…” Guys a complete CLOWN.
Anyway.. tip of the cap to Marchand. That was a really high level play I wouldn’t have expected from him. Just a beautiful hustle/heads up goal.
He reminds me so much of Kenny “The Rat” Linseman. The best thing about Marchand is he finishes. Wooooo
biggest surprise this year. hope there’s no sophomore slump.
I think Marchand is the player we have to sign.
And while he might have a sophomore slump, I fully believe he is the real deal and is worth paying the 3ish million a year he probably wants.
I think given that the B’s appear to be letting Kaberle walk (or at least seeing what the market provides) and perhaps Ryder as well-locking Marchand up shouldn’t be that hard.
I think he definitely provides some skill and a spark and he is rather versatile in where and how he can be used. He can grind it out on the 4th line and he and Bergeron seemed to work well together.
RD,
It’s the history of America, we never actually pay our large debts. We go to war and make other countries forget about them. I don’t like it, but that’s the most likely outcome of over-dependence on China’s production ability and lax labor standards. It will happen either when China grows too bold, or we no longer have a useful relationship with them.
I suspect Marchand will sign for $3 for 5 years or $2.5 for 3. He’s done a good job staying on the right side of the line for most of the season.
Whoa David!
Anyways, I’d lock up Marchand for as long as possible. I can’t stand him but it’s more because of how effective he is. Quality player, quality career ahead of him.
Don’t worry about the greenback. We won’t pay back China, and then we’ll be out of debt (mostly), after we scourge them in a war.
If I was an agent I’d want my players paid in CDN dollars. I’m serious about that and time will prove me right. I’m not giving a hard Aug 2nd deadline I’m just making an educated bet on the future of the U.S greenback.
Is that going to mess with Krecji’s status after this season? He has one left and then I believe is an RFA, which is nice for the Bs. Trade or sign options.
MCK-
If it was still this CBA, it would depend on his age.
But by the time his contract is up, it’ll be a new CBA, so who knows.
MK
It would be nice if he would take a deal like 3 for 7, but I doubt it. After he signs this next contract expires, he is still an RFA right?
I’d love to see a 3 year 7.5M deal here; bargain for us, some flex for him… 4 years at 12M would also be a nice deal. Can’t wait to see this guy locked down; Marchand is definitely the real deal, and that chemistry with Bergy is outstanding!
No brainer this kid needs to get a long term contract because he’s not going to get cheaper than today. He has the speed the heart and he’s a bit nasty which makes the team have to get involved and when the Bruins play in an emotional game they seldom lose. Elevates the team intensity big time
This is an interesting contract. Part of me thinks they should go short term to see if he’s for real. Another part of me is convinced that despite what physical shortcomings we thought existed in his game – he’s flat out a special kind of person/player that you just can’t put your finger on and we’d be smart to give him 4 years while the money is low. Glad I don’t have to make the call on Marchand’s contract.