It’s been over half a year since Brad Marchand became the Boston Bruins’ captain. He’s not done growing into the role.
It’s been over half a year since Brad Marchand became the Boston Bruins’ captain. He’s not done growing into the role.
BRIGHTON, Mass. – The Boston Bruins appointed Brad Marchand as their next captain on Sept. 20, turning the page on a historic 2022-23 season while facing uncertainty about what was ahead. Former captain Patrice Bergeron and longtime star center David Krejci each retired, and other key roster pieces such as Taylor Hall, Tyler Bertuzzi and Dmitry Orlov moved to other teams. The remaining core would be the ones relied upon to ease the transition, Marchand chief among them.
Exactly seven months later, the Bruins will face the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That was far from guaranteed when Marchand first stepped into his captain role, and standing in the Bruins locker room at Warrior Ice Arena on Thursday, he thought about how his predecessor would feel in this spot.
“One thing that [Bergeron] really focused on later in his career especially was gratitude,” Marchand said. “Just being grateful for the opportunity. I think that’s one thing that you kind of forget is that you’re not given this opportunity every year, and just because you’re in the league and you’ve been there before doesn’t mean it’s gonna happen again. So you want to embrace the moment and really cherish the opportunity and make sure you kind of do everything you can to make the most of it.”
At 35 years old, Marchand’s leadership continued on the ice. His 67 points ranked second on the team behind David Pastrnak (110). He played all 82 games for just the second time in his career and the first in 10 years.
Off the ice, he had to bring his leadership to another level. Despite finishing high on the team scoring list, Marchand said he dealt with the ups and downs of adjusting to a new role. With the examples set by Zdeno Chara – whose effect on the team culture persists long after he’s gone – and Bergeron, following that up was as important to the team’s stability as it was difficult.
According to Bruins general manager Don Sweeney, Marchand did well in shouldering the load.
“He handled things coming through the door every day with the absolute right attitude in regards to whether or not he didn’t accomplish individually the things he wanted to accomplish and get back to the collective goal,” Sweeney said. “And you’ll see that on Saturday.”
That didn’t mean there weren’t hoops to jump through. Marchand discussed how some days he felt better than others, and there are still areas he wants to improve upon through the postseason and into this summer.
The biggest challenge of all was learning how to approach the role in his own way, rather than forcing himself into a Chara-Bergeron mold.
“I think I was trying not to be [myself] at the start,” Marchand said. “And as it kind of went on, I felt like I was trying to be too much like ‘Bergy’ and ‘Z,’ and I’m just not gonna fill those shoes. I’m not them. So I had to get back to being myself a little bit more.”
Now Marchand will be tasked to lead his team past the Maple Leafs, the team he supported growing up before becoming one of its biggest villains as a pro. The team that he considers to be Boston’s biggest rival of the past decade. The team that – a year after winning its first playoff series since 2004 – is hungry for a deeper playoff run.
The Bruins are also fighting for redemption after last season’s first-round upset to the Florida Panthers, squandering the best regular season performance of all time. If you ask the players or staff, they’ll say the page has turned, but it’s no doubt an extra motivating factor heading into this spring.
Marchand will be the one leading the way. So will the other Stanley Cup winners on the team, Pat Maroon and Kevin Shattenkirk. But playoff experience isn’t the only thing that makes a leader, according to Marchand.
“It can come from a young guy making certain plays or making a big hit or a good block or whatever it is,” he said. “So leadership comes in all kinds of different forms, but it grows throughout the group as the playoffs go on and you start having success. But the biggest thing is those momentum swings, that’s where experience itself comes in.”
In their fourth playoff meeting against Toronto of the past 11 years, Marchand and the Bruins will need every bit of leadership they can provide.
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