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Brad Marchand says he’s ready to change his game

May 25, 2018, 10:52 AM ET [26 Comments]
Anthony Travalgia
Boston Bruins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
There was a point in time where Brad Marchand needed to push the envelope. As a young NHL hopeful, Marchand did what he had to do to make it in the league. For many years Marchand played the role of an agitator perfectly. As Marchand’s game grew, so too did his antics.

Marchand has grown into an elite NHL scorer, he’s also grown into a player loved by the hometown fans and hated by the rest. Over the course of the last three seasons, only Alex Ovechkin (132) and Vladimir Tarasenko (112) have scored more goals than Marchand’s 110.

It’s ultimately his own fault, but when people think of Marchand, they think of the guy who was suspended five games for a low-bridge on Sami Salo or they guy suspended three games for clipping Mark Borowiecki, among many other infractions.

Marchand’s reputation took another hit during the Bruins’ playoff run. This time though, it was something new: licking.

“I saw humor in it [at first], and then I thought it was, as it went along, it got pretty silly and not productive towards the team,” Bruins owner Jermey Jacobs said earlier this month. “This is a player that, I can only think of 30 other teams that would love to have him, so there’s a margin that you give him. But I think he used up that margin.”

At first it was Marchand being Marchand. Doing whatever it is to get that competitive edge and get under the skin of his opponents. But this time, it backfired.

Across the hockey world, the licking incidents were often talked about. Some shrugged it off, some compared it to spitting and some had no issues with it. Regardless of where people stand on it, Marchand shortly realized that the licking incidents have an even larger picture.

"I think the biggest thing for me now is to take a hard look in the mirror and realize the actions and some of the things I'm doing out there have much bigger consequences than I may ever think or really believe will come out of it," Marchand said during the teams end-of-the-year media availability earlier this month.

"I've always been a pretty easy going guy. There's not a whole lot that fazes me at all. I think it's kind of gotten to the point now, the last thing I ever want to do is bring embarrassment to my teammates and the organization.”

Marchand has undoubtedly brought more than embarrassment to the Bruins, as he has lead the team in goals in each of the last four seasons.

“Brad should be contrite. He was spoken to. I don’t want to go into the details, but he understands how he put a negative focus on him, his family, the organization, his teammates, and the coaching staff,” said team president Cam Neely.

“The thing that people don’t understand [is] Brad is a really good guy. If you don’t know him, and you see this other stuff, then you really don’t think highly of him. He’s a tremendous hockey player. He’s got to the point now where his game on the ice, without the antics, should speak for itself.”

Neely is right that Marchand’s game on the ice speaks for itself. But for now, it’s his elite talent and on-ice antics that are speaking for itself. Marchand is ready to change that.

“When you play a certain way with no consequences for 25 years, it’s hard to flip a switch and have it all be gone,” added Marchand. “Maybe I haven’t paid enough attention to it, because I thought I could get away with it because I was being a good player. If I wasn’t having the years that I was having, would I be in the league? I don’t know. Would the Bruins put up with it? Probably not.”

With nine years of NHL experience under his belt, it won’t be easy for Marchand to rewrite his legacy as a professional hockey player. But he can certainly give it a shot.

“Brad is an elite hockey player in the National Hockey League, so when I have conversations with him, it always starts there, and then it goes to, well, what do you want your legacy to be? He’s at a stage in his life and a maturity level where, I think, he understands, he truly gets that he doesn’t need the other stuff to make him an elite player, to continue to be an elite player,” said head coach Bruce Cassidy.

In the past Marchand has come out and admitted wrongdoing, acknowledging change is needed. Clearly change never came. But once again, Marchand is facing the music and admitting that he needs to be better.

"I need to be a lot better. I know I've said that in the past, but that's got to be the thing that I really work on the most,” said Marchand. “I think I've kind of gotten my game into a pretty decent spot. But I've got some character things and things that I've done that clearly need some fixing."

Many people won’t believe Marchand when he says he knows he needs to change. The only thing he can do is go out there and show that he’s a different player.

At the very least, Cassidy believes he can be a different player.

“I think Brad is ready to do that,” said Cassidy. “We have his back; we always will,”
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