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| Bruins winger Brad Marchand |
Well, it looks like Brad Marchand really does want to be a career Bruin.
The left wing, whose 37-goal performance last year and his current star turn on the international stage at the World Cup of Hockey was positioning him for a huge payday if he chose to go to free agency next summer, ended all the speculation by signing an eight-year, $49 million deal to stay in Boston. The deal, which kicks in after this season, will take Marchand through his 37th birthday. The deal carries an average annual value of $6.125 million.
That will make Marchand, 28, a financially comfortable young man, to be sure, but he could have very well gotten a little bit more on the open market.
"I’m very excited," Marchand told reporters in Toronto where he's playing in the World Cup. "I want to thank the Jacobs family. I want to thank Don Sweeney, Cam Neely, Claude Julien, my teammates, my family, my wife, and all the fans in Boston.
"Boston has become my second home. I absolutely love it there. I’m very excited about what’s ahead for our team. I really believe in our team and our group and what we’re working towards. It’s a place that I’m very excited about being for the next number of years and potentially my whole career.
Marchand will be a financially comfortable young man, to be sure, but he could have very well gotten a little bit more on the open market.
He said in a statement distributed by the Bruins that "there is no place I would rather play" than Boston and added he wants to "bring the Stanley Cup back to Boston."
The Bruins players who were preparing at Warrior Ice Arena for tonight's preseason game against the Columbus Blue Jackets had not yet heard about the signing but were pleased when informed.
“That's great news for the Bruins,” said Jimmy Hayes. “He's a heck of a player and to have someone around like that for eight years is going to be huge for us.”
Said Kevan Miller: “Marchie is Marchie and I think everyone kind of knows what that means. He's been great for our organization, great for our fans and this city. Since Day One he's kind of been a guy I've looked up to.”
Paired with center Patrice Bergeron since the Stanley Cup season in 2011, Marchand is a player who has evolved from being perceived simply as a pest with a modicum of skill to one of the truly elite wingers in the league. His current work for Team Canada alongside Bergeron and Sidney Crosby at the World Cup is only cementing his place in the game.
"I think it’s come a long way from when I first got in the league," Marchand said of his game, while also crediting Bergeron's high standards for helping him improve.
"The way he carries himself, the way he plays, he expects that of his linemates and if you deliver anything less, you feel like you let him down, you feel like you let the team down. I think that’s pushed me a lot."
Said Bergeron, "It’s pretty impressive the way he’s improved. I’ve always thought he was an amazing player to play with and the way he’s handled himself on the ice night in and night out, he’s always been first on pucks, working hard, competing and all that, I just think he’s improved his game from one year to another. He got 37 goals last year and it wasn’t a fluke. Obviously, we’re seeing that right now. It’s great to see.
After scoring two goals against Russia in Canada's win on Saturday, there was speculation that Marchand would ditch the Bruins to play with Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins after this year.
"I was getting a little worried now with him playing with Sid,” Bergeron said with a laugh. “I’m really happy it’s done and we can move forward for himself and also for us as a team. I can’t say enough about him. It’s well deserved and he’s an amazing player.”
Bruins GM Don Sweeney had been talking with Marchand's camp all summer to work out a deal and today all the speculation about Marchand maybe leaving was finally extinguished.
from: http://www.bostonherald.com/
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