Bruins’ Brad Marchand: Hall of Fame Worthy? – Hockey Writers – Boston Bruins

Without a doubt, Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand is one of the most dominant players in the National Hockey League. At the same time he is a top scorer and a nuisance for years. Bruins fans love him. The fans of all the other teams hate him. His relationship with league officials? It’s complicated.

Smartly specific, Marchand put up numbers that, taken alone, make a strong case that he belongs in the Hockey Hall of Fame when he hangs up his skates. He had one 100-point season (2018-19) and had 87 points in 70 games played in 2019-2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to a halt. He added seven more goals and five assists in the Bruins’ 2020 postseason bubble. Since then, he has been a point-per-game player every season.

In 1,029 games played, all in a Bruins uniform, Marchand posted 401 goals and 528 assists for a total of 929 points. And he is only 36 years old. So, it makes sense that the player who currently sits in fifth place among the club’s all-time leading scorers would be lighting the lamp for several years and adding to those impressive numbers.

If having his name engraved on the Stanley Cup increases a player’s chance of receiving a Hall call, Marchand checked that box early in his career. He is one of a handful of current Bruins left on the team from the 2011 Cup win. As a second-year player, the Nova Scotia native helped that team reach the top of hockey, posting 21 goals and 20 assists and a plus-25 average in the 2010-11 season.

Wet and Wild

Marchand has shown no signs of slowing down, averaging 85 or more points in each of the past four seasons, including the one he was suspended for. However, another debate that divides hockey fans is whether the so-called “Little Ball of Hate” has matured in recent years into a player more interested in helping the team win than pushing the buttons of on-ice officials and opposing players. That’s a tough one.

If Marchand makes the Hall of Fame, he will certainly be among the very few, if not the only, to have been disciplined by the NHL for licking opponents during a game. In fact, he did that twice in the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs, using an unusual deflection trick on Leo Komarov of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ryan Callahan of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Although Marchand has kept his tongue to himself since then, he still found himself at the center of controversy the following year in the second round of the 2019 playoffs. Many Columbus Blue Jackets fans believe the Boston midfielder should have been suspended for hitting the back of Scott Harrington’s head, although the league disagreed.

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Marchand has been suspended six times in his career. While suspensions may have declined in recent years, his reputation has earned him many trips to the penalty box during the game. It’s safe to say he rarely gets the benefit of the doubt from match officials, and that’s a big factor in the 82 penalty minutes he’s already played in the 2019-2020 campaign.

Speaking His Mind

As loud and aggressive as he can be on the ice, Marchand also rarely holds his thoughts, or criticisms, to media screens and press conferences. For example, he publicly called out TD Garden staff for what he saw as poor ice conditions during the 2019 playoffs and gave direct, sharp-tongued responses to the media after his team’s series win in Columbus.

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As mentioned, Marchand took offense to the media coverage of his performance in the Blue Jackets playoff series last April. After that, he disappeared, having little impact on the rest of the Bruins’ deep playoff run. In all fairness, teammates Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak also struggled to produce during the 2019 season, but all eyes were on Marchand.

Then on Jan. 13, 2020, the situation changed dramatically for the king of the chirps after Marchand passed the puck during the shootout against the Philadelphia Flyers. The problem was, Marchand swiped his stick over the puck but blew it. As a result, the move counted as a missed shot, and the game ended with the Flyers on top.

No Pests Allowed?

Obviously, there’s no rule that says world-class agitators can’t be Hall inductees. In fact, that role is one that has been perfected by a handful of players over the decades. But looking at recent history, it seems that many of those guys will be better remembered for that part of their game than their talent.

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Could Marchand have achieved superstar status if he hadn’t decided to play the class clown? It really is possible. The very name that may have kept a great hockey player from rising to the top, unfortunately, could make him lose his head as one of the greatest players to ever play the game.