Boston Bruins Should Extend Brad Marchand Soon

Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Brad Marchand is one of the most intriguing players in the entire National Hockey League. Believe it or not, Brad Marchand is about to enter his seventh professional season with Boston and should only improve in the coming seasons. Having scored at least 20 goals in each of his four full seasons, and 18 in the lockout-shortened season, Marchand has been a consistent scoring threat on the Bruins for years.

While Brad Marchand can be considered a pest (and rightfully so) by most people, he can also be considered an elite 2-way player and a top-notch sniper with speed. Marchand has the shot most teams covet in a goal scorer, but the most impressive thing about Marchand is his ability to play both ends of the ice so seamlessly with Patrice Bergeron. At only 5-foot-9, Brad Marchand is certainly on the smaller side of players in the NHL, but that hasn’t stopped him from giving it his all, every game of every season.

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It’s easy to say that Brad Marchand is a replaceable player and that he isn’t as elite. It’s easy to look at the penalties he takes and certain actions he makes and deem him more trouble than he’s worth, but when the numbers are analyzed and the intangibles are considered, Marchand is a key player to the Boston Bruins success and should be treated as such. Brad Marchand scored 24 goals last season, and 10 of those goal were the first for his team. To put that in perspective, Only Alexander Ovechkin opened scoring for his team more times with 12 goals. Considering how important the first goal is in a game, Brad Marchand has more than done his part to help his team in that department.

Brad Marchand has never received consistent ice time on the power play throughout his career, and as a result, he’s had to find success scoring goals at 5-on-5. Last season, 20 of Marchand’s 24 goals came at even strength. With more consistent power-play time on the horizon for Brad Marchand, that goal count could push 30 this season and beyond. One thing that hockey teams are starting to pay more attention to are possession numbers, and Brad Marchand is always one of the top players in the league in that statistical category.

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Brad Marchand currently has two years remaining on his current contract with an average annual cap-hit of $4,500,000. With such a modest cap-hit, the Boston Bruins have been lucky to have Brad Marchand for so long given the skill-set he brings to the team. To re-summarize, Brad Marchand is a goal scorer who has speed and can play long minutes, including the penalty kill. Marchand is also a positive puck-possession player and that much is evident when watching him play. If Don Sweeney wants to retain Marchand at a reasonable cap-hit, he would be wise to start contract negotiations sooner than later with Brad Marchand and his agent. There is no shortage of demand on the market for a player like Marchand, and a cap-hit of $5,500,000 to $6,000,000 would be appropriate.

Nobody contributes more to the Boston Bruins on offense consistently than Brad Marchand, with the exception of Patrice Bergeron. Marchand is only now entering the prime of his career and should only get better offensively, and it goes without saying that the defensive side of Marchand’s game should only improve as well. Patrice Bergeron has taught Brad Marchand well, and hopefully the two can remain linemates for years to come.

The following video summarizes everything mentioned above in one short-handed play (with the exception of being a pest, although the Kings might still consider Marchand a thorn in their side after this goal)

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