With all the plaudits going to David Pastrnak, it’s fair to say the that the Boston Bruins other top line winger, Brad Marchand is being overlooked. Again.
It really isn’t new for Brad Marchand to fly under the radar and not earn the level of respect he deserves. The Boston Bruins winger was ignored completely even with the All-Star Weekend crying out for a bit of personality.
Not only that, this is the fourth straight year he’s managed to top the 70-point mark and he’s sat in the top ten for points production in the NHL most of the season, without earning little more than a mention by most people.
He’s on-track to tally above 100 points once again this season, having hit that marker for the first time last year; the first time anyone had for the Boston Bruins since Joe Thornton managed to 2002-03.
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Yet when people talk about the Boston Bruins; which names are the ones they’re talking about – it’s always David Pastrnak and Tuukka Rask; completely understandable as the league leaders in goals and goals against average. Since the 2016-17 season though, only Connor McDavid, Nikita Kucherov and Patrick Kane have more points than Brad Marchand.
You only need look at the hard work and brilliant skill that went into his assist on David Pastrnak’s opening goal in Montreal to know just how much talent Brad Marchand has. This came as no surprise to any Boston Bruins fan, but the rest of the league need to wake up to him being more than a pest.
Granted, he still is a pest and knows how to get under opponents’ skin; just look at his little tussle with Jeff Petry last night but there’s so much more to his game.
Of his 71 points this season, only 24 have been earned on the power-play so it’s safe to say, he’s not being propped up by massive tallies on the man-advantage.
He does in part benefit from elite line-mates in David Pastrnak in Patrice Bergeron; their line is good for 31 points at even-strength. There is far more than totals propped up by team-mates though; the individual skill deserves to be noticed. Getting under people’s skin is a talent too, just as long as he doesn’t take it too far.
Far too many people around the league associate the Boston Bruins and Brad Marchand with the strange face-licking incident and not enough with his absolute top-level points production. Whether this narrative can ever be changed though is anyone’s guess.
For now, we’ll let his accomplishments be overlooked and hope it comes back to sting a team or two in the Stanley Cup Playoffs!