Brad Marchand has made a career of being unapologetically himself both on and off the ice. At the start of this season, however, he found himself acting a little bit too much like someone else – two someone elses, really.
In his first season as Bruins captain, Marchand wanted to continue to build on the foundations laid by his friends and predecessors Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron while also being himself. Looking back now, he doesn't believe he found the right balance right away.
"I was really overthinking it early on," Marchand said Sunday. "I wanted to try to do a little bit too much. I think the biggest thing is everyone leads their own way. The way I saw Zee lead and Bergy lead, they kind of did it their own way. I was trying to be a little bit too much like both of them."
Marchand thinks he's grown into a leadership style that comes more naturally as the season has gone on, but added that he is very much still learning on the job.
"I've been part of this team and learning from some of the best, and throughout that process, I've been my own type of leader and my own type of player. It's tough when you kind of deviate from that," he said. "So, I think it's just trying to be true to yourself and trying to show what I've learned, what I've respected and learned from the older guys, trying to continue to portray that each and every day and live up to that standard.
"But it's fun. I love it. It's just the responsibility that comes with it, I take a lot of pride in that. So, I'm still learning every single day. There's a lot to learn. Still reaching out to guys to pick their brain and try to learn from them. But yeah, it's a process. Looking forward to continuing it."
His coach has noticed that growth, and believes it's not a coincidence that the team has played better hockey as Marchand has gotten more comfortable in his leadership role.
"I think he's done a fantastic job," Jim Montgomery said Monday. "I think he's grown into the job. He's become his own captain, which is really important. And I think the fact that we sit in first place speaks volumes of what he's done with his assistants and the other players that he delegates to to help lead with him. We're not in first place without Brad Marchand being our captain."
Montgomery believes Marchand has found his voice by being direct in the points he wants to make and not sugarcoating anything or beating around the bush.
"I think it's been very noticeable that he's very direct and right to the point now on the bench and I think in the room," Montgomery said. "I don't think he's as much worried about being friends as he is about being a captain who holds people accountable. You know, Bergeron had the incredible ability to be empathetic and hold people accountable at the same time. It's rare that someone has that ability. Not everybody has that ability to be empathetic towards everybody else. You have to be who you are. That's why I think when Brad walks in the room now, it's clear that's our captain, that's our leader, whereas the beginning of the year it was growing to get to where it is now."
Marchand is leading with his play on the ice, too. He is second on the team in goals (24) and points (47), behind only David Pastrnak in both. At age 35, and in his first full season without Bergeron as his regular center, he is on pace for the first 40-goal season of his 15-year career.
Marchand had a down season by his standards last year, with his 21 goals his lowest total since the 2012-13 lockout-shortened season. A big part of that dip was the double hip surgery he had before the season. Marchand said he feels "way better" right now than he did at any point last season, when he felt like he was playing catch-up pretty much all year.
"You can't catch up in the middle of season," he said. "You miss a summer of training, you miss four, five, six months, you're not catching up to guys. You can't overload yourself throughout the season to train to catch up to where you need to be. You can get to a certain level, but you'll never catch up to where guys are physically and where their conditioning levels are. So, you're behind everybody at that point. And I felt like that. But I feel much better now, and because of that, more confident. So, hopefully I can continue to get back to where I was before."
The way Marchand pushes himself – to battle through the recovery process from double hip surgery, to get better in his mid-30s – has long been admired by teammates and coaches. Even as he worked on finding his voice, the lead-by-example part of the captain's job was never in doubt.
"How [does he do it]? Well, he works harder than everybody else," said alternate captain Charlie McAvoy. "So, I have to work as hard as him. And someone who can lead by example like that, it's a very special trait. It's an extremely special trait. He makes us all want to be better. He makes me want to be better."
As the unofficial second half of the season begins, Marchand is four games away from becoming the eighth player to play 1,000 games in a Bruins uniform. He has climbed up to fifth on the franchise's career goals and points leaderboards this season. On the goals list, he is six away from fourth-place Rick Middleton.
And he has no plans to stop any time soon. In fact, with the news over the weekend that the NHL will return to the Olympics in 2026, Marchand has already set a goal to still be playing at a high enough level to make Team Canada. While Marchand won the World Cup of Hockey with Canada in 2016, he has never been to the Olympics, with the NHL's decision to skip 2018 and 2022 costing him his two best opportunities.
"That's definitely a huge goal," Marchand said. "I'm gonna do everything I can to be there and make sure I'm in the best possible shape, the best possible position to try to be on that team. It's a long time away, but definitely a nice goal to set and try to chase."
The Bruins, at least, know better than to bet against their captain.
