September 5, 2024 | 11:58am ET
By Shawn Hutcheon, TheFourthPeriod.com

MARCHAND FOCUSED ON THE ICE, NOT HIS NEXT CONTRACT

Brad Marchand, forward

BOSTON, MA — An expression states that “good things come in threes” and while that adage is believed to date back to at least the fourth century, Brad Marchand may disagree here in the 21st Century – and no, we’re not referring to hattricks.

On Tuesday, the Boston Bruins held their first captains’ practice where Marchand shared how he spent his summer vacation.

“I had three surgeries this summer,” the Bruins’ captain said. “I did my elbow, I tore a tendon. My groin – sports hernia – and then my abdominal area.”

Marchand added that he played with the elbow injury last season and during the playoffs.

The procedures left little time for off-season training for the 36-year-old, who is heading into his 16th NHL season, all with Boston.

“I didn’t do a whole lot of training until like, two weeks ago,” Marchand said. “I’m just kind of getting back into it. I was skating by myself. The goal is to try to be ready for (training) camp, if not, very shortly after, but I’m just kind of getting back into the swing of things right now.

“There’s a lot of work to be done. I’ll treat the next two months like summer and train and skate in the way I normally would in the summer. The biggest thing is getting conditioning back up to speed. My strength is kind of there already, but power and conditioning is where I need to focus to get back to where I need to be.”

Getting back to where he needs to be is one concern for the Bruins’ superstar forward. The other is a next contract.

Marchand is now in the final season of an eight-year, $49 million deal that comes with an annual average value of $6.125 million. During his media availability Tuesday, he was asked if negotiations on an extension had begun.

“I want to say this now and leave it at that,” Marchand stated. “I’ll never talk about contract stuff in the media. I saw a report the other day. I don’t know where he’s (reporter) getting his information, but it wasn’t from our side. We’re not going to talk about it. Whatever goes on will stay between (General Manager Don Sweeney) and our group and we’ll leave it at that. I think there’s enough respect between the two sides that we can deal with it, and we’ll leave it at that.”

It is only a matter of time until both sides agree on that extension.

After last year’s playoffs ended, Sweeney was asked during management’s end-of-season press conference about Marchand’s status with the team to which Sweeney answered that it is the organization’s goal to see Marchand retire as a Bruin.

Marchand would love nothing more than to play his entire career in Boston, but he is not ready to hang up his skates yet and he said so after he played in his 1,000th career game back on February 13. After that contest, he was asked if he planned on playing for eight or nine more years.

“That remains to be seen,” answered Marchand at the time. “The way that I kind of feel about that is, as long as my body is holding up and I can compete at a high level then, yes. We’re very fortunate to play this game. We live a lot of kids’ dreams, and I live my dream every day.”

Going into the 2024-25 campaign, Marchand has played in 1,029 career NHL games. He has amassed 1,051 penalty minutes while producing 401 career goals, and 528 assists, for 929 points. If he physically progresses as hoped and is playing like only he can – and there is no reason to think that he will not – the native of Halifax, Nova Scotia is looking at joining elite NHL company (and by elite company, we’re talking names like Howe, Bourque, Messier, Mikita, Beliveau, Iginla, Recchi, to name a few) who have played in 1,000 games, amassed 1,000 penalty minutes, and produced 1,000 points.

While the summer may not have been filled with the best of days for Marchand, one hopes that the repairs to his body and a new contract will ensure that the following three seasons, Fall, Winter, and Spring, will provide memories that will last a lifetime.