At the beginning of the season, the Boston Bruins were in a bit of a pickle. They had lost their captain to retirement and were desperate to find a leader. After ruling out their goalies, no thanks to a 1948 rule that prohibited them being named captains, they then turned to the rest of the roster.
After debating for a few weeks, the Bruins finally decided to name Brad Marchand the 27th captain in team history. The move was initially met with some resistance, as Marchand was not exactly known to be a model citizen on the ice, but the Halifax, Nova Scotia native knew he would have to be on his best behavior if he were to retain his title.
In the 2023-24 season, however, that all changed. Marchand was a leader on the ice, he was a game changer on the ice (in a positive way), and, in fact, exemplified what it means to be captain of a Boston sports team.
Marchand's regular season stats
Marchand's regular season was incredible from the jump, racking up seven points in the Bruins' first five games. In that five game string, Marchand included a string of three games in a row with at least one goal - including one with a two goals in one.
In the regular season, he played in all 82 games, for just the second time in his career mind you, while scoring 29 goals - eight more than the year before - and 38 assists, tying his point margin (67 points) from the 2022-23 season.
Marchand had six multi-goal games. including a natural hat-trick against the Columbus Blue Jackets on December 3.
Natural hat trick for Brad Marchand 🚨🚨🚨 pic.twitter.com/sQnDfL5Jgc
— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) December 4, 2023
The feat was the first of the natural variety for Marchand, but the sixth of the triple-goal variety.
He was a fixture on the power play throughout the season, and always seemed to come up clutch when Boston needed him to most, at least during the regular season. His passes nearly never missed a stick, and when the puck NEEDED to find his, it did.
Marchand's postseason stats
Marchand would have played in all 13 postseason games, if not for a cheapshot hit by Sam Bennett of the Florida Panthers that sent him into concussion protocol.
He still played well in the postseason, however, in the 11 games that he did play in. He posted 10 points on three goals, and seven assists. He also boasted a +3 rating on the ice and three multi-point games throughout the postseason run.
Were he not injured, many Bruins fans thought that Marchand would have been a difference maker in their second round series with the Panthers, but as the French say, c'est la vie. For those of you who don't speak it, that's life.
Overall assessment
Throughout the season, Marchand took the job of captain, and leader, of the team very seriously and it showed through both his numbers and how he conducted himself on the ice.
Not only did his involvement with the team show up on the scoresheet and how valuable he is to the team, but he showed up in the community as well. With one left on his contract, it would definitely behoove Boston to sign him past next season just so the Bruins can keep him around for the rest of his career.