Brad Marchand
It’s a toss-up as to whether Brad Marchand has been more underwhelming in the round-robin series or whether David Krejci has been.
The nod goes to Brad Marchand because simply put Krejci has shown himself to be declining in recent seasons and his dip in form isn’t really anything all that new.
Krejci has a hard role as the second-line center on a team that features an elite center in Patrice Bregeron, but he hasn’t been able to help elevate his winger’s games, namely Jake Debrusk and that’s a big disappointment and concern ahead of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Even more concerning than all of that though is the average performances we’ve seen thus far from Brad Marchand.
Along with Patrice Bergeron, Marchand is normally one of the most reliable guys on the team to spark offense and get things going, but much like most of the team, he seems to be lacking any sort of intensity to his game.
Perhaps he’s been told to reign in all of his antics completely or perhaps he’s actually struggling to find his inner-pest given he’s sharing relatively close quarters with most of the likely recipients. Either that or he’s just not prepared to stir people up in a somewhat meaningless round-robin tournament.
No even-strength points, a couple of shots and a couple of rebounds created doesn’t exactly read like much of a calling card for Marchand. Yes, some of his struggles can be pinned on his line-mate Bergeron, but Pastrnak is still finding ways to create offense.
In all honesty, Marchand is the guy that would benefit most from simplifying as the Bruins head into the playoffs. Not trying to get too fancy and just putting the puck on net, search for a rebound or a miscue by a goalie.
All in all, the Boston Bruins don’t quite look ready to go. They may surprise us all and flick a switch when the Stanley Cup is actually on the line, but right now it’s not looking that promising.
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.