At this point last year, fans in Boston were waiting to hear what damage a new contract for 2011 playoff hero and restricted free agent
Brad Marchand would inflict upon Boston's salary cap.
Ultimately ending with the 5-foot-9 forward inking a two-year contract worth a modest $5 million, happily avoiding a holdout that'd put the sides on shaky ground entering his second full season with the club, it took just one stellar year for the B's to bring No. 63 back to the negotiating table with an extension on their mind. Those talks, discussions that went
completely under everyone's radar, didn't take too long with midday confirmation coming from the Bruins that they had in fact signed Marchand to a four-year contract extension worth a heaping $18 million.
On the heels of a season that saw Marchand put a career-high 28 goals by netminders along with 27 helpers and a plus-31 rating (the fifth best in the entire NHL), Marchand continued to prove his worth as a capable offensive presence on the Bruins' second line featuring
Patrice Bergeron and fellow sophomore
Tyler Seguin.
Putting the cap on a two year period that's seen Marchand make the leap from fourth line winger to bona fide top-sixer, including a run of 49 goals and 47 assists in 153 contests, the new contract comes with a substantial bump in the agitator's cap-hit, going from $2.5 million up to $4.5 million, making him the Bruins' third highest paid forward behind Bergeron ($5 million) and
David Krejci ($5.25 million).
But is the 24-year-old winger worth it? If he has his say, you better believe it.
Given his diminutive frame, it was hard to see what sort of impact Marchand would ever have with a club predicated on size and brute force given a 20-game cameo in 2009-10 that yielded nothing but frustration for the Nova Scotia born winger. Finishing the year with just one point and a minus-3 rating, with zero goals on 32 shots on net, the window for Marchand seemed to growing smaller. That was until a spot on Boston's fourth line in 2010-11 paved the way for No. 63 to be the swaggering sparkplug he was meant to be.
Skating with an edge, Marchand rose up the Bruins' depth chart, earning the honor as the B's "7th Player Award" as voted by the fans, and began to build on a resume of what's been a money-like playoff career. Beginning with a five-point opening round against the Canadiens, the Bruins' little ball of hate just kept on rolling, ultimately finishing his rookie campaign with a staggering 11 goals and 19 points in 25 playoff games, including a Cup Final that saw Marchand terrorize the Canucks for five goals and two assists while racking up 22 penalty minutes. While it surprised most in the Hub, showing up when it matters has become the underlying story of Marchand's career.
Dating back to his days with the Halifax Mooseheads and more, Marchand put together a junior career that included 79 points in 65 games. He then moved on to the American Hockey League, where he'd add seven goals and 15 points in 16 playoff games. Now, the act has come to Boston, where it's been a playoff run of 12 goals and 21 points in 32 playoff contests, and something that shows no signs of slowing down according to Marchand.
"With the group of guys we have and with the opportunity we have ahead of us, we have such a great team and we’re going to be a very strong team for years to come," Marchand said in a release earlier today, unable to meet with media due to a family moose-hunting trip. "I think we can have the opportunity here to do some very good things and especially make a couple of good runs at the Cup. With how dedicated everyone is to the city and the organization, I know everyone is going to put their best foot forward every game and make sure we give ourselves the best opportunity to do that."
The dude's money, the system's money, and it's clear to see why the Bruins want to keep him in the fold, even if the price comes as a bit of a surprise.
"It’s nice when you sign players to extensions, we say a lot of good things about players, and it’s nice too when you can sign a player like Brad, who has worked his way up through the organization, and plays the way we all enjoy watch him playing and as a general manager, you enjoy watch him playing," Boston GM
Peter Chiarelli said to the media today. "[He plays] an in-your-face game, he sacrifices his body, and he’s really coming into his own as an offensive player.
"From the start, I remember him as - his first camp - saying that he expected to make the team and I was a little shocked at that comment," Chiarelli quipped. "I liked the braggadocio, I liked the confidence. So that was my first impression of Brad. I knew about him as a player, I knew about how he played."
But just where does Marchand rank among similar wingers with $4.5 million cap-hits? Among the noteworthy, the Stars' new veterans
Jaromir Jagr and
Ray Whitney both come with the same cap-hit, as does
Ryan Malone,
Ville Leino, Montreal's
Erik Cole, and even the Blues'
David Backes.
In this group, only Cole finished with more goals than Marchand's 28, finishing with 35 in his debut season as a Hab. On a defensive note, nobody finished with a better plus/minus rating, while only St. Louis' Backes sees significant time on the penalty kill like Marchand. And unlike every one of these guys, "Marshy" plays his game with an edge that makes the Bruins a downright annoying team to play against.
The only problem? Keeping that edge in line.
"He went through some stuff last year with a couple of incidents, and through the disciplinary process where we engaged in a couple of philosophical discussions with that office," Chiarelli said, most notably making reference to the
Sami Salo clip that left Marchand with a five-game ban. "So I think Brad recognizes — and you’ll have to talk to him about it — but I think he recognizes that part of his game as being a valuable part of his game and he’s a smart enough player that, as you get older, and learn the ropes a little bit more, you can tweak your game a little bit. He’s certainly aware of it and that the line has moved a bit."
Yet, like anything in a cap-world, it's not all rosy for Marchand and the Bruins after this extension. Eating up a significant $4.5 million off Boston's books for the next four years, the confirmed signing leaves the Bruins with just under $24.6 million left to sign notable guys like restricted free agents
Tyler Seguin,
Milan Lucic, projected No. 1 goaltender
Tuukka Rask, and
Jordan Caron along with key unrestricted free agents
Nathan Horton,
Andrew Ference, and even potential darkhorse backup goaltender
Anton Khudobin. The harsh reality for the Bruins is that it's going to be borderline impossible to keep everyone in town, even with a cap that'd stay at 70 million dollars, and that's something Chiarelli and the Bruins know.
"We’ve kind of tightened the screws a little bit, and at the same time, everyone sees us on top or close to the top of CapGeek.com," Chiarelli said when pressed about the team's dwindling cap space moving forward. "I seem to always be answering questions about that. I feel that we have some flexibility with regard to that, with the nature of the [Tim] Thomas contract and the [Marc] Savard contract, in respect of the system, but I can’t ignore it, and I try not to.
"We’re trying to lock up core guys. We’re trying to lock up our critical mass of our team," Chiarelli confirmed. "And if we have to, you know, I’ve told the guys that 'Look, if the system changes dramatically and we have to shuffle pieces around, I have to do that, that’s part of the business,' and the guys, when we’re signing guys, they’re okay with that. So, there are some guys that may have to wait, there are some we may do and we’re trying our best to maintain the core of this team, and to keep it good for a long time."
However, in the now, keeping the 5-foot-9 winger in the fold keeps the B's real, real good.
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