Brad Marchand was public enemy number one for Montreal Canadiens fans during his time with the Boston Bruins. The best way to describe him is that he was the ultimate pest. He would hit you after the whistle, crash the net, and constantly find ways to get under your skin. Early on in his career, he skated on that thin line of being a dirty player with all the antics, but as he matured, he became an elite hockey player with multiple 30-goal seasons and even a 100-point campaign. He was a player fans hated, especially because he was on the rival Bruins, but in an alternate universe, he would have been beloved if he were on the Canadiens.
Canadiens had their own Marchand with Brendan Gallagher
It is hard to imagine a world where Canadiens fans would be cheering for Marchand, even though we saw glimpses of that during the 4 Nations Face-Off and Olympics when he was representing Team Canada. He was a player who drove opposing and Canadiens fans crazy, but the truth is the Canadiens had a very similar player to Marchand. While Gallagher was never seen as a dirty player, he was definitely a pest. Gallagher did most of his damage in front of the net or in the corner boards. He would pester goalies with his net-front presence or was relentless on the forecheck in hopes of making the opposing defenders misplace their pass. Both players are diminutive in size, both listed at 5’9”, but did not let their height dictate their careers. For all the reasons they hated Marchand, Gallagher was doing nearly the same thing, but was beloved in doing so.
The Gallagher/Marchand comparison was a real discussion during the start of their careers. During the first five years of their careers, their stats look very similar. Both were scoring near 20 goals a season, while putting up 40/50 points, but once Marchand cleaned up his act, his offence exploded. He became a player who regularly scored over a point per game, and in the 2018-19 season he had a career-high 100 points, while being an integral part of one of the best lines in the NHL. He became more than just a nuisance or a pest. He turned himself into a valuable hockey player who could be an integral piece to a winning team.
Winning is what matters most, and Marchand knows how to win
Thinking of Marchand being in a Canadiens sweater just looks wrong, and it is hard to imagine Habs fans would ever think of him as anything other than a rival, but the guy knows how to win. He is a two-time Stanley Cup champion and has made the finals four times in his career. In all four of those runs, he is one of the big reasons why his teams even got to that point. On the 2010-11 Bruins team that went on to win the Stanley Cup, he had 11 goals and eight assists in 25 games, in only his second season in the NHL. Two years later, he helped the Bruins get back to the finals, but even though they lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games, Marchand still had 13 points during that playoff run.
In the 2018-19 season, the Bruins were one of the best teams in the NHL, finishing the year with 107 points, tied for the second most in the league. They made it back to the final that year, this time losing to the St. Louis Blues in seven games, but Marchand was excellent again. He recorded nine goals and 14 assists in 24 games, proving once again that he is an elite playoff performer. Even at the tail end of his career, when the lights are the brightest, he still finds a way to perform at his best. Following a move to the Florida Panthers, in a season where Marchand was having a down year by his standards, he still found a way to be an integral member of another championship-winning team. In 23 games with the Panthers on their run to win the Stanley Cup, Marchand had 10 goals and 10 assists. It will be hard for most Canadiens fans to admit, but at his best, Marchand was an elite player, and someone who would have been beloved had he been drafted in a bleu, blanc, et rouge sweater instead of a black and gold one.
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