Is It Time For The Boston Bruins To Pay Brad Marchand?
The Boston Bruins find themselves in a very interesting place right now with their top goal scorer Brad Marchand, it was reported this past week by Joe Haggerty of CSNNE that Marchand wants to get a deal done with the Bruins.
"Going back to when they started talking contract with him, and when the season ended, they fully expected that the contract would be 7-8 years and at least $6.5 million a year, probably more like $7 million a year.- Haggerty"
In addition to the Haggerty story on Marchand, it was reported by ESPN NHL writer Shawn Hutcheon on Twitter that Marchy is looking for a $49 million deal with the length running 7 years. The reported deal by Hutcheon puts Marchand right into the $7 million a year that Haggerty was talking about. The question is should the Boston Bruins pay Marchand the money now, wait for a different time, or walk away completely.
Walking away from Brad Marchand simply isn’t an option for the Bruins given that they walked away from Loui Eriksson this offseason and likely have no replacement for Marchand. Marchand was a pivotal recruiter to get newly signed center David Backes to leave St.Louis and join the black and gold. In addition Marchand is the top goal scorer on the team and a key line-mate to star center Patrice Bergeron.
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Let me play devils advocate for a second here though, if they do decide to walk away the team can use the $7 million per year to attempt to bring a top pairing defenseman to come to Boston, this is an area that they need top talent and giving Marchand a long term contract could hinder their ability to improve the d-core. It is also worth noting the Bergeron affect and how much of it has inflated Marchands numbers. It isn’t a stretch of the imagination to see that Marchand is only the top scorer because he plays with Bergy. Bergeron has the ability to make his line-mates score 25 goals in a season no matter who is at the wing.
Ultimately though the walk away strategy is not the way to go for the team though, signing him now could potentially be a cost saving move for the team. For example if Marchand has another elite season his price tag could drive up even more and cost the Bruins a lot of money for not moving now. In addition Marchand could take the non-contract as a slap in the face from the team he has played his whole career with and decide to not sign with the team at the end of the season. Signing him later could also hang over the team and hurt the locker room and play of the entire team.
The possible benefit of waiting to sign Marchand is for him to step up and have a career year with his contract extension with the Bruins benefiting from Marchand kicking into high gear. But as mentioned before this would raise the price tag incredibly at the end of the season.
The option that is looking likely to happen for the team is to bite the bullet and pay Marchand what he wants now.
The option that is looking likely to happen for the team is to bite the bullet and pay Marchand what he wants now. Marchand is a leader on the team and is still only 27, meaning that at the end of a 7 year contract he would still only be 34 years old and still capable of producing at a high level. Marchand is coming off of a career high 37 goal season and the team cannot afford to even think about losing his offensive productivity given the long term questions the team has over the next couple of years.
Next: Marchand To Stay In Boston
The Boston Bruins should give Marchand his money before the season starts, personally I balk at any contract length over 5 years with any player. But the way contracts in the NHL are 7 years are part of the norm, and I would rather give a sub-30 year old goal scorer a 7 year deal than a player who is 30+. The Bruins have moved too many key pieces over the last couple of seasons, this time around it is key for them to retain Marchand and then move their focuses immediately to bringing in a top pairing defenseman. But until then having a high scoring offense with Marchand leading the charge can help keep this Bruins team in contention for the foreseeable future.