The Best Deal Of The Offseason: Brad Marchand

When you think back on any signing season, your mind immediately goes to the big deals handed out to free agents. This season saw over $600MM dollars handed out on the first day of free agency, and was followed by a lucrative summer for tons of players. Because of the lack of a superstar name—thanks Steven, you couldn’t just wait another couple of days?—second-tier all-stars were given incredibly lucrative contracts. Recently, our Zach Leach took a look back at July 1st and the mistakes teams made, handing out term and money to players who were perhaps already over the hill.

But this offseason’s best deal may not have come until much later in the summer. In fact it didn’t happen in the summer at all, but on September 26th just a few weeks before the Boston Bruins would start their season. The Bruins were getting ready for their preseason debut against the Columbus Blue Jackets—a game they would lose in a shootout—while two thirds of their top line was prepping for the World Cup of Hockey final in Toronto.

It was that morning of the 26th that Bob McKenzie of TSN would report that the Bruins had completed a contract extension with Brad Marchand that would see him stay in Boston for another eight years. He would be paid $6.125MM each season with several different clauses attached. Even though he was starring at the World Cup alongside Sidney Crosby—and would score the tournament winning goal just a few days later, shorthanded with 44 seconds left—many people thought the deal was a huge overpay. In fact, the replies to McKenzie’s tweet are mixed at best, with it being hard to understand the value Marchand brought to the Bruins.

Marchand was coming off a breakout year which saw him score 37 goals and 61 points, but he still had a reputation of being a middle-six player that you use more to get under opponent’s skin than dominate them offensively. He clearly wasn’t that anymore, but the smell of his previous suspensions and mediocre assist totals still lingered. He could score, everyone knew that; he hadn’t been held under 20 goals in any full season of his career, and even scored 18 in the lockout shortened 2012-13 season. It wasn’t as clear if he could repeat the 37 goals or continue to grow into a player deserved of an eight-year commitment.

Likely, we should have known then it was a brilliant deal for the Bruins. The market had just given a 28-year old Milan Lucic a seven-year deal worth almost as much as the Marchand extension per season. Lucic—a former Bruin who had been jettisoned a few years prior—was six seasons removed from his only time cracking the 30 goal mark, though had other attributes that earned him the deal. Kyle Okposo had netted the same deal despite never eclipsing 27 goals in his career. 

Now though the move looks like the best of the offseason. Marchand’s point total has exploded while he continues to score goals at an incredible pace. His 35 markers this season have him tied with Crosby for the league lead, while he sits just one point behind Connor McDavid in the Art Ross race. With a hat-trick last night he has forced himself back into the Hart trophy discussion for league MVP, and why not? His influence is felt in all areas of the Boston game, as he skates on both special teams and has dominated both with the man advantage and on the penalty kill.

When his extension kicks in next year, Marchand will fall somewhere around 34-36 among the league’s highest paid forwards, depending on the deals that players like Alexander Radulov and Joe Thornton earn this summer. He’ll still be only third among the Bruins forwards behind Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, only a hair ahead of David Backes.

Many thought the Bruins had given out too much term to a player who had just one impact season under his belt and perhaps they did. The deal won’t expire until 2025, when Marchand turns 37. Paying a player into his late thirties is never a very good idea—one that Bruins fans will know all too well the next few years with Backes—but this contract still looks great for them. For the next few seasons at minimum they are getting one of the very best players in the league at an incredible discount on their cap, while the front-loaded nature of it means they won’t be paying much salary for his decline years. At just $4MM actual salary in his final year, he could get by as a role player for the team.

The Bruins find themselves in a fight for the Atlantic Division, just as close to first as fifth. During their tumultuous season that has seen the decline of Zdeno Chara, the firing of a long-time coach and several players speaking out publicly against the old regime, Marchand has been one of the best stories of the year. His emergence as a top-tier point producer is one that Bruins fans should be screaming from the rooftops, and thanking their lucky stars they have him under contract for next season already.