Boston Bruins: Brad Marchand needs to keep his edge

After a postseason full of hijinks, Boston Bruins winger Brad Marchand wants to clean up his game. That may sound good, but a cleaner game may hurt Marchand’s success.

Brad Marchand is an interesting player to say the least. The Boston Bruins winger is one of the most talented wingers in the league but also loves to get in some trouble. As the 2018-2019 season inches closer, it appears that Marchand wants to put some of his past pest-like activities behind him.

Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy spoke to WEEI’s Dale and Keefe on Tuesday and said that last season was an eye-opening experience for Marchand.

"“From my perspective, we love the performance on the ice,” Cassidy said of Marchand. “We’re working on Brad being a little more focused on that part of it. We’ve had conversations with him. He’s a year older, he’s a year more mature. We feel that he’ll take steps in the right direction. I truly believe at the end of last year, he reflected on some of the stuff that was talked about him and wants to put that out of his game and behind him."

In the postseason Marchand was the talk of the NHL and it wasn’t for the best reasons. I never thought I would hear hockey journalist complaining about a player licking an opposing player, but Marchand would treat opposing player’s faces like a personal Popsicle stick.

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Now even though it’s annoying, these antics are apart of Marchand’s game. When Marchand is getting under opposing player’s skin he usually is playing well.

Marchand doesn’t necessarily need to get rid of those antics, but he does need to get rid of the stupid hits and spearing that leads to him getting suspended. I’m pretty sure Marchand will still be a great player without having to drive his elbow into someone’s face.

Still, I want to see Marchand getting into scrums after plays and annoying opposing players. It is part of what makes him such a good player. Marchand can get the oppositions best players off their game by making them want to drive “Marchy” through the boards.

Hopefully, this will be the first season in a while where Marchand doesn’t get suspended. Imagine how many goals he will score if he plays a full season. A Hart Trophy doesn’t seem out of reach for the winger.

Hopefully, Marchand will still be able to anger other players without going over the edge, because if he tries to eliminate the pest from his game, his performance may drop off a cliff.