We've seen him before and he is going to be one hell of a player. A key part of him becoming that great player though, is surviving that long. He is making too many enemies too quickly in this league. Brad Marchand is becoming a player that others are forced to look out for, and not necessarily in a good way. There is no doubt that he is going to put up some very impressive numbers, he's got the skills for it. Everybody loves a player who can get under the opponents skin, but there is a line and Marchand has crossed it...several times.
Most recently, Marchand under cut an oncoming Sami Salo, ducking underneath him and flipping him onto his head. Now, in his defense, Salo has a long history of head hunting people and smashing them face first into the boards, so the Bruins "self defense" case is very valid.....
This isn't the first time Marchand had done this - take a look back in the Stanley Cup Finals, he did the exact same thing there. He is a short guy, so it doesn't take much for him to get down and flip somebody, but he is doing this as a defense mechanism, not a hit along the boards or anything. There is a difference between a hip check by a defenseman on someone coming down along the boards and seeing somebody come towards you and duck under them and take them out at the knees.
Boston loves this kid, and why wouldn't you. They love him for almost all the same reasons we love Burrows and Lapierre and Kesler, but the only difference is, those guys aren't putting people in dangerous positions.
No comments:
Post a Comment