Brad Marchand’s status as a provocateur is such that the Toronto Maple Leafs started talking about him almost a week before Thursday’s start of their playoff series against the Boston Bruins.
Leafs defenceman Travis Dermott said he might put hot sauce on his face just in case Marchand licks him, as he did a few opponents in last year’s NHL playoffs. Mitch Marner, who had a good view of Marchand’s nuzzling of Leafs forward Leo Komarov during the Leafs-Bruins series last spring, recommends leaving the Bruin pest alone.
Both the league and the Bruins have had heart-to-heart talks with Brad Marchand in an effort to curb his antics.Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
This talk is met with innocent shrugs from Marchand and the Bruins. One of hockey’s greatest agitators is a changed man. There will be no more YouTube videos of Marchand’s greatest trash-talking, such as the time he told a linesman who made a call he didn’t like, “How are you in the show? Brutal. How are you even here? Like 10 guys hurt right now? [Expletive], you’re bad.”
Both the league and the Bruins had heart-to-heart talks with Marchand. No more licking or any other kind of cheap shot, such as last season’s elbow to the head of Marcus Johansson (now his teammate), which drew a five-game suspension.
Marchand is a changed man, they say, even if he hit 96 minutes in penalties this season, a career high. Forget comparisons to a drunk taking the pledge, this is the greatest transformation since the Undertaker went from heel to baby face in pro rasslin’.
“I don’t think he’s even come close to anything that you’d say, ‘What’s going on? He’s going to go over the edge,’ ” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters the other day. “He’s had games where he’s been upset. But every player goes through that. He’s got right back on the rails and been a real good player for us. He backed it up. We’re in the playoffs now.
“Hopefully Toronto doesn’t have some game plan to get him off. I can’t imagine he would go down that road anyway. I think he understands how valuable he is to the team and how he’s been able to keep it clean for six to seven months now.”
No one could be blamed for hoping the Maple Leafs do have something planned. It is this kind of by-play that makes playoff hockey so much fun to watch. Besides, it is imperative the Leafs get Marchand and linemates Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak off their game somehow because the Bruins’ top line took them apart over seven games a year ago in the first round of the playoffs.
“I don’t think they’re concerned about it,” Marchand said Wednesday about old grudges and the Maple Leafs. “We’re not thinking about it. It really has no implication on the series at all. They’re going in with the same mindset we are. We’re going to start a whole new season [Thursday].
“I’m not concerned about doing that either. I tried pretty hard to get away from that this year. Thought I did for the most part, so I’m not looking to do that at all. Just play the game. That’s where they excel, just playing and allowing their skill and talent to take over.”
Still, as Marchand kept talking to a large group of reporters in the Bruins’ dressing room at their practice arena, he gave off a definite undertone of nostalgia for the bad old days in the NHL. It was not that long ago when players did not think twice about laying on a little extra with a hit, either with the lumber or an elbow, and then dropping the mitts if necessary.
Cassidy spoke about certain players being true Bruins and he was asked how the definition has changed over the years. Back in the 1970s, true Bruins such as Wayne Cashman or Stan Jonathan were not to be trifled with unless you wanted a knuckle sandwich.
“They’re hard to play against, a good teammate, work ethic, character,” Cassidy said of the present-day true Bruins, using Zdeno Chara, Bergeron and David Krejci as examples.
But Marchand sure sounded like a guy who wished there was still room for a little Cashman or Jonathan in today’s NHL. He said there is still room for a little nastiness, but not much.
“It always has been, for sure,” Marchand said. “But the league’s going away from that. You can’t be a dinosaur in the game.
“You be too physical, you get suspended for everything you do. There’s a very fine line nowadays and it seems like they’re trying to push everything away from a physicality standpoint. Maybe it’s because of the concussions and they’re trying to protect themselves, I don’t know. Guys just want to play and be skilled players and skate around out there untouched. That’s the way the game is going.”
Then someone brought up the 2011 Bruins, who won the Stanley Cup as much by their willingness to knock people down as by their skill.
“Yeah, but this isn’t 2011. That was eight years ago. The game has changed drastically since then,” Marchand said. “You look at the amount of guys [today] that don’t hit anybody. I bet if you took the hits around the league it’s a lot lower now than what it was. Everyone’s worried about getting suspended and getting fined.
“It’s such a fine line no one knows what’s getting called now, so it’s better to not hit now than to get a suspension and lose a few hundred grand [in forfeited salary]. It’s just the way it’s going and it’s not worth it any more.”
Then again, Cassidy prefaced his remarks about Marchand’s transformational season with this: “We’re not through it yet.”