What do you think about Brad Marchand and his antics?
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Love him or hate him, Bruins super-pest Brad Marchand always gets results
BOSTON — Former NHL super pest Theo Fleury calls himself “the only Brad Marchand fan in North America.”
“I would say of all the guys who have played in the league after me, he is probably the closest to playing like me,” Fleury, who played 16 seasons with the Flames, Rangers, Avalanche, and Blackhawks, told USA TODAY Sports.
Both players were among the league’s smaller players. Fleury was listed at 5-6 and Marchand’s official height is 5-9.
Their playing styles could both be described as nails dragging across a chalkboard. Irritating. Annoying. Aggravating.
Both were also key offensive players. Fleury, 50, scored 455 career goals from 1989-2003, with nine seasons of netting 30 or more. Marchand, 31, boasts 262 goals in his first 10 seasons and has averaged 36.5 goals over the past four seasons.
Last year, Marchand was warned to stop licking players in the playoffs. This year, in the second round, he sucker-punched Blue Jackets defenseman Scott Harrington from behind. At the time, Harrington was kneeling on the ice.
Marchand also stomped on Cam Atkinson’s stick before a faceoff, breaking it. He stormed off after he didn’t like a question on a live TV interview, and then had a comical, yet strange, post-game interview session in which he answered every question with one or two words.
“I was doing the same stuff Brad Marchand was doing but there weren’t 30 cameras watching everything I did,” Fleury said. “At the end of the game, the little jabs he does, the licking … It was going on when we played, you just didn’t see them.”
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While Fleury was never suspended for anything he did on the ice, Marchand’s rap sheet with the NHL Department of Player Safety includes six suspensions for on-ice infractions, plus multiple fines.
“From time to time, he crosses the line, that’s something you take as part of the package,” said former NHL tough guy Stu Grimson, now an analyst for NHL Network.
And that package includes being one of the best players in the league.
Marchand led the Bruins this season in points (100) and penalty minutes (96) and has a team-best 18 points in the playoffs. Odds-maker BetOnLine recently listed him as a 2-to-1 favorite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
Complicated playing style
When the Bruins visited the White House after winning the Stanley Cup in 2011, President Obama referred to him as “the little ball of hate.”
He has been playing this way at least since he was 14 when he had 97 points and 104 penalty minutes playing for a Nova Scotia youth team. The National Post reported that season Marchand swung his stick so hard at an opposing player he “mangled” the guy’s facemask.
Marchand is one of the NHL’s most disliked players.
But he doesn’t seem motivated by that.
“I don’t play in spite of people, I play for the people who pushed me along, the people who have helped me succeed,” he said.
Grimson said when he played he always felt that players like Jeremy Roenick, Gary Roberts and a few others needed the physical side of their game to fuel their offensive side. He sees Marchand as being similar.
“It gave them space, the energy to play,” Grimson said. “The physical element of their game is inseparable from their offensive element.”
Marchand doesn’t talk about why he plays the way he does, but, like Fleury, he uses his grating style to his advantage. He wants to frustrate and anger them to the point that they are less effective as players.
He didn’t take a bait Sunday on Stanley Cup media day when asked what he knows about Blues rookie goalie Jordan Binnington and what he planned to do to rattle him.
“I don’t know anything about Binnington, and I don’t care to rattle him,” Marchand said. “We’ll play the game and see how it plays out.”
Bruins forward David Backes, 37, calls Marchand “the motor on our team.”
When you think of Marchand, the first word that comes to your mind is “undisciplined.” But those who know Marchand view him as calculating. He has a purpose even in his outlandish behavior.
“He understands a little more than meets the eye,” Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said.
But then there was this in the series against Carolina: Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal hit Chris Wagner from behind. Staal was going to be penalized, but Bruins defenseman Connor Clifton came to defend Wagner.
Before Clifton could incur a penalty, Marchand pulled him away and reminded him to stay disciplined so the Bruins would get a power play.
Without question, he’s a leader on the Bruins.
“When he’s telling everyone to calm down, you’re thinking, ‘Well, if he is recognizing that, then, dang, we had better calm down,’” Backes said.
Charlie Coyle, who joined the team in February, said Marchand’s response was exactly what the Bruins needed at that moment.
“Brad gets that – that’s what being a leader is all about, and he is a leader,” Coyle said.
The edginess to Marchand’s game, which often gets him into trouble, also is the reason he can get to the net when there are a lot of bodies in front. He’s relentless.
Charlie Coyle was acquired by the Bruins before the trade deadline. He was accustomed to disliking him as an opponent and was surprised to discover who he really was.
“His skill is unbelievable – just to watch that has been (impressive),” Coyle said. “And I didn’t expect him to be as vocal as he is in the locker room. He is always talking and he’s always positive. You respect a guy like that.”
Do what it takes for the upper hand
Fleury said what Marchand really understands is that there are many ways to be valuable to your team.
“He gets paid to win,” Fleury said. “That means you should do whatever you can to get the upper hand to an opponent. That’s what Brad Marchand is about. And people are going to resent him for that.”
Fleury said Marchand stands out more now because there are fewer players willing to play that way today. The aggravating disturber was more accepted in Fleury’s era.
“Every coach I had coached me to be this angry ball of hate, just like Marchand is,” Fleury said.
Fleury said there’s plenty of psychology intertwined with the way he used to play and Marchand plays today. You want to get your opponent to think about you more than he’s thinking about the game.
When did he know he won that battle?
“When they were more worried about chasing me around the ice than they were about where they were supposed to be on the ice,” Fleury said.
Fleury has undoubtedly had an influence on Marchand’s style. According to Fleury, last year, when Marchand was in Calgary, he asked through an intermediary, whether Fleury would pose for a picture with him. Fleury was happy to oblige. They chatted briefly.
Meanwhile, the Bruins know they would not be here without him and his approach.
“If you are not playing for the Stanley Cup at the end of the year, what’s the point?” Marchand said. “If you don’t win, you may as well not make the playoffs, because you are loser just like everyone else.”
