This is Brad Marchands team-period.

[yave1964]

Make no mistake, Brad Marchand has put his own personal stamp upon the 2015-16 Boston Bruins and has simply become the heart and soul of the team.

    After the 2014-15 season that saw the Bruins miss the playoffs, Marchand reflected and had this to say:

 

“It was different. In the past years, we were family, but for some reason this past year we were definitely a little bit divided, and had different cliques. It could've been because we had a lot of guys coming up in different times from Providence; they felt a lot more together, and it seemed like the older guys didn't do a good job at integrating other guys.

“So it's definitely a combination of things. This year we have to do a much better job collectively as a group to make sure we're all on [the same page], and we're a unit that will transfer over to the ice that will allow us to play better hockey.”

  The Bruins jettisones long time fan favorite Milan Lucic whi had become a distraction with his antics, as well as young players such as Soderberg who was allowed to walk and then traded Reilly Smith and Dougie Hamilton in surprising moves. They brought in hard working grinders such as Matt Beleskey and Jimmy Hayes who never take a shift off and after a slow stat, led by Marchand the team has jelled.

  Bergeron has been amazing. He deserves credit. Rask pulled his head out of his rear. Krejci, when healrhy has been nearly a point a game, Spooner has stepped up and Chara seems to have found another gear, but the team goes as far as Marchand will carry them.

  He opened the scoring today with a first period goal, his 27th in 49 games which is insanely ahead of his career pace, he played a flawless game against the Wild as he seems to do every night anymore. He runs the power play, he kills penalties, in fact he leads the league with three short handed goals.

  He put his money where his mouth is, he called the team out from last season stating the chemistry was awful, a veiled comment that somewhere between Soderberg, Lucic, Hamilton and Reilly was a poison and he was not going to allow it to happen again. He was suspended this season for a nasty hit in a game against Ottawa (it cost him the winter classic) which is just his game.

  I compare his game, his style to Ken Linseman, he gets under your skin and never takes a shift off, if you are on the ice when he is and you are slacking he will give you hell when you get back to the bench. I doubt if it happens twice. Other teams hate him. His own fans absolutely love him and defend him no matter what.

  As a Wings fan, it would be easy to hate him, but this is not Matt Cooke or James Neal or even Milan Lucic, lesser talents who have to live on the other side of the line to stay in the game, Marchand finishes every check, gives everything he is and lives and dies in every game and on every shift. He is the consummate power forward and team leader. I respect his effort every night and love to hate him.

  He has backed it up and has turned into one of the top power forwards in the game.

 

[yave1964]

As for the locker room cancer......

 

  My personal opinion is Dougie Hamilton is probably to be singled out in this mess, you dont just give up on a kid with that much talent who is that young over salary concerns, you make it work. They gave up on him and donated him to calgary who is playing much worse with him aboard this year than last and just suspended 3 solid young players for showing up hungover. Would Gadreau and Monahan have done that without Hamilton being there? Possibly, but they didnt do it before.

  Reilly Smith was dealt even up for a forward who plays the same game but plays with an edge.

  Lucic and his schtick wore thin and he was a human distraction machine.

  That leaves Soderberg who they made it clear two months before the season came to an end was at best unlikely to return.

 

  Overall the talent level they play every night this year compared to last is a bit less but they bring it every game and Marchand is the key. I hate the Bruins, I mean REALLY hate the team but they play the game right and grudgingly I admit if they are on I watch them and actually find myself enjoying the game more often than not.

[JagerMeister]

The title is an incredible overstatement. He's unquestionably been of more significant impact this year than previous years.. His nose for the net has seemed to increase tenfold, he only needs 3 goals to eclipse his career high and 15 points to eclipse his highest point total in more then 20 games remaining. But Krejci and Bergeron are arguably just as impactful, if not more. He certainly doesn't carry them.

 

Also, other teams despise him justifiably so. I would say he is the most detestable hockey player in the league and Bruins fans should be able to understand why that is without having the need to blindly defend his actions.

[yave1964]

44 minutes ago, JagerMeister said:

44 minutes ago, JagerMeister said:

The title is an incredible overstatement. He's unquestionably been of more significant impact this year than previous years.. His nose for the net has seemed to increase tenfold, he only needs 3 goals to eclipse his career high and 15 points to eclipse his highest point total in more then 20 games remaining. But Krejci and Bergeron are arguably just as impactful, if not more. He certainly doesn't carry them.

 

Also, other teams despise him justifiably so. I would say he is the most detestable hockey player in the league and Bruins fans should be able to understand why that is without having the need to blindly defend his actions.

The title is an incredible overstatement. He's unquestionably been of more significant impact this year than previous years.. His nose for the net has seemed to increase tenfold, he only needs 3 goals to eclipse his career high and 15 points to eclipse his highest point total in more then 20 games remaining. But Krejci and Bergeron are arguably just as impactful, if not more. He certainly doesn't carry them.

 

Also, other teams despise him justifiably so. I would say he is the most detestable hockey player in the league and Bruins fans should be able to understand why that is without having the need to blindly defend his actions.

In November the Bruins were struggling at 8-8-1 and going nowhere fast, after a lethargic loss Marchand called out the team.

  "We know that we’re not all playing our best every night and we have to," Marchand told reporters after Tuesday's 5-4 loss to San Jose. "I think right now, if we’re going to get out of this and we’re going to put a few wins together, we need to have everyone going every night. Can’t have any passengers at all. If we have one, it’s enough to cost us the game, and right now, we have way too many."

THAT is what I am referring to. He lets them have it if they are not giving it all and he backs it up with his own play on the ice. He has turned into the team leader of an overachieving team that missed the postseason last year and then traded and let go 4 key players and didnt add much. He has willed this team into a fight for the playoffs and I give an enormous amount of credit to him. This has always been a team with huge personalities and he was a young player, as a vet he now runs the clubhouse and the team has responded to him.

[JagerMeister]

19 hours ago, yave1964 said:

In November the Bruins were struggling at 8-8-1 and going nowhere fast, after a lethargic loss Marchand called out the team.

  "We know that we’re not all playing our best every night and we have to," Marchand told reporters after Tuesday's 5-4 loss to San Jose. "I think right now, if we’re going to get out of this and we’re going to put a few wins together, we need to have everyone going every night. Can’t have any passengers at all. If we have one, it’s enough to cost us the game, and right now, we have way too many."

THAT is what I am referring to. He lets them have it if they are not giving it all and he backs it up with his own play on the ice. He has turned into the team leader of an overachieving team that missed the postseason last year and then traded and let go 4 key players and didnt add much. He has willed this team into a fight for the playoffs and I give an enormous amount of credit to him. This has always been a team with huge personalities and he was a young player, as a vet he now runs the clubhouse and the team has responded to him.

Never thought I would hear these qualities associated with Marchand.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Brad Marchand has definitely stepped up his role and game on the team after the Bruins, as an organization, seemed to be slipping backwards.

I don't think his abilities as a player were ever questioned by most hockey knowledgeable people....though his taking control of locker room affairs may be a bit of a surprise to many.

 

Good for him to be doing positive things on and off the ice for his team.

That all said, he is STILL a rat player.

 

Always will be. It's simply who he is as a hockey player: talented, quick, opportunistic, now captain-like apparently, but always, always a rat.