Brad Marchand’s status precedes him.
So regardless that the Boston Bruins winger has toned down his antagonistic antics this season, there nonetheless are loads of gamers throughout the NHL who view Marchand as a pesky ache within the you-know-what.
Winnipeg Jets middle Mark Scheifele has a really totally different opinion of Marchand, although, having performed with him on Team Canada on the 2016 world championship.
“For sure he’s misunderstood,” Scheifele just lately advised ESPN.com’s Emily Kaplan. “If you just watch him on TV, you don’t get the full respect, because you see some antic that he does. But if you watch a full game of Brad Marchand, you see some pretty special plays.”
Marchand is an elite expertise, racking up a career-high 100 factors this season after back-to-back campaigns during which he totaled 85 apiece. Still, not everybody appreciates his all-around recreation, maybe due to the variety of feathers he’s ruffled all through his NHL profession.
Scheifele, nonetheless, may be very impressed by Marchand’s evolution. Marchand, who turns 31 subsequent month, hasn’t simply matured by way of his conduct. He’s additionally labored laborious to hone his craft, making him excess of only a aim scorer who sometimes ticks off opponents.
“Everyone sees he has great hands, a great shot, great vision, but what a lot of people don’t see about his game is how well he takes pucks off the boards, how good he is in traffic, how good he is getting on the right side of guys, taking contact on the right side of them so he can get to the offensive side of it,” Scheifele advised Kaplan. “He understands how to take that contact, and use it to his advantage. That’s something he does better than probably anyone in the league other than (Sidney) Crosby.”
Marchand just lately was voted the very best and worst trash talker within the league by his NHL friends, so he hasn’t utterly shed the “agitator” label in his 10th NHL season. But whatever the widespread notion that persists, he’s an incredible participant nonetheless growing and nonetheless pushing to stay amongst hockey’s finest.
Thumbnail picture through John E. Sokolowski/USA TODAY Sports Images