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Boston Bruins 2021 Player Grades: Brad Marchand was team MVP

By Matt Hawkins |
Jun 5, 2021; Uniondale, New York, USA; Boston Bruins center Brad Marchand (63) skates with the puck against the New York Islanders during the first period in game four of the second round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Schneidler-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 5, 2021; Uniondale, New York, USA; Boston Bruins center Brad Marchand (63) skates with the puck against the New York Islanders during the first period in game four of the second round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Schneidler-USA TODAY Sports

Continuing our Boston Bruins 2021 Player Grades series, we look at superstar left wing Brad Marchand.

Coming off of offseason surgery to repair a sports hernia, the expectations were slightly lower for Brad Marchand this season. I expected him to start off slow and just not play at the same level he did in 2019-20.

However, I was completely wrong as Marchand was ready for the season despite using the offseason to rehab instead of practice and improve himself. But, I guess finally playing at 100% instead of 80 was a bigger difference than we thought.

So, if you thought Marchand was great before this season, you should think he’s amazing after seeing him fully healthy in 2020-21. Marchand was clearly the best forward on the B’s and arguably the best player on the team, really only in competition with Charlie McAvoy.

Brad Marchand carried the Bruins on his back.

As the title says, Marchand is the clear favorite for team MVP. With David Pastrnak missing the first couple of weeks of the season as he was still recovering from offseason hip surgery, Marchy basically covered what the Black and Gold were missing with Pasta out.

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With this season being shortened, we were unable to witness what Marchand could’ve done in a full, 82-game season. However, he put up career-bests when it came to goals per game (0.55) and points per game (1.30) as he scored 29 goals and 69 points in just 53 games. Both totals led the team.

In a full season, these paces would’ve led to Marchand scoring 43 goals and 102 points. This is if Marchand played the rest of the games and incorporating that he missed just the three games he already missed. 43 goals and 102 points would both be career-highs for Marchy.

Not only was Marchy amazing at the offensive aspect of the game, he continued to show great improvement to playing in his own end as this was arguably his best overall season of his career.

Marchand ability to play great defense allowed him to play in every scenario and helped him score four shorthanded goals this season. Marchand’s high performance in his own end even got him two first-place votes for the Selke Trophy and finish in the top-10 in its voting.

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Overall, Marchand wasn’t only a beast when it came to scoring, he was also a beast to shutting down the opposition and turning penalty kills into advantages instead of disadvantages.

Grade: A+

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