Brad Marchand
Moving on from an absolute lock to have his banner raised to a player that is arguably on the border-line.
There’s no denying the importance of Brad Marchand for the Boston Bruins these days, but there’s every chance that he eventually ends his career just below that legendary status.
Where do we begin really when it comes to Brad Marchand; he’s our very own ‘little ball of hate’. He is despised across the league but that only leads Boston Bruins fans to love him even more.
Some of his antics in the past have led us to question what’s going on in his head, but at other times, we’ve found it downright hilarious how easily he seems to get under opposition players’ skin.
On it’s own, this would be zero reason to ever consider raising a banner, but there’s far more to his game than that, which is what makes him such an interesting case.
The past four campaigns, he’s consistently put up 80-plus points, in fact he would’ve most likely hit 100 points for a second consecutive season if it weren’t for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Likewise, his consecutive seasons with 30 or more goals would’ve very likely extended to a fifth year if it weren’t for the early end to the 2019-20 season.
He took a fair amount of time to truly find his game and that might hold him back from ever having his banner raised, though in recent years he’s done everything he can to make up for relatively lean years at the start of his Boston Bruins’ career.
As a result, he finds himself 10th all-time for points, 12th all-time in assists and 7th all-time for goals; numbers which could’ve been slightly higher if he hadn’t taken so long to properly break-out.
It’s undeniable that he’s a Boston Bruins legend and one day will retire as such, but it’s an uncertainty whether he deserves a banner raising or not. Time will tell.