Marchand: 'I Would Never Yell at Bergy'

BostonBruins.com - Brad Marchand knows better than to mess with Bergy.

The winger has been alongside Patrice Bergeron for nearly a decade, teaming up to form one of the finest duos in the history of the National Hockey League. But after 10 years together, hundreds upon hundreds of games, and thousands of practices, it would be natural for even the best of friends to get under each other's skin.

Think again.

"I don't bite the hand that feeds me. I'm a little smarter than that," Marchand said with a chuckle during a virtual town hall with Bruins season ticket holders on Thursday. "I think the most we've ever gotten into it is when [David Pastrnak] and I are getting into it and Bergy's got to yell at both of us to stop yelling at each other.

"But we talk literally after every shift, we'll talk about something. I don't ever have to tell him to get me the puck because he's always getting us the puck."

Marchand and Bergeron were first paired together by former coach Claude Julien during the Bruins' championship campaign of 2010-11, also Marchand's rookie season. The pair had instant chemistry - they both scored two goals apiece in Game 7 of the Cup Final against Vancouver - which has continued to develop more and more with each passing season.

"It's kind of to the point now where we know when we miss a pass to one another even if we may not see it right away," said Marchand, who added that he would choose Bergeron and Pastrnak - of course - to be his linemates in an NHL 3-on-3 competition.

"We'll get back to the bench and it will be, 'Hey, were you there?' And I'll be like, 'Yeah' or 'No, I wasn't.' We have that kind of communication. It's at that point now where we know if we had the opportunity to make a play and we missed it and by the time we saw it, it was too late.

"We kind of talk about how that opening occurred and where we might be able to do it again. There's always communication back and forth like that."

But never any fights?

"I would never start an argument with Bergy or yell at him for something like that," said Marchand. "But he has had to give it to me a couple times."

For the most part, Marchand saves the chirps for his opponents,as evidenced by a recent NHLPA poll - from over 500 players - that crowned him both the best and worst trash talker in the league for the second straight season. The 31-year-old, however, disputed the fact that he is still worthy of the crown.

"I don't really trash talk anymore," said Marchand. "I might have caught a couple guys with some good ones back in the day, but there's not that much trash talk anymore. The game's changed a lot. There's too many microphones, guys are worried about what could get said or what could get caught on camera. The refs are as well. They're on top of you as soon as you start chirping, they threaten 10-minute penalties and stuff like that.

"It's just not worth it to get into the guy's ear. And it's just not the generation anymore. When I first came into the league, everybody would chirp you. You did not want to line up by the other team's bench, you'd wait until the last second to get there because you'd have everyone yelling at you, squirting you with water.

"Now you can sit there and nobody will say a thing. It's just changed, so it's not something I'm overly interested in doing anymore."

During this month-plus pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Marchand said he has been in contact with his teammates, including Bergeron, as they chat about the current situation and what they might have to do to prepare should the season resume.

"Everyone has been staying in touch, we have a group chat that we fire back and forth in," said Marchand, who is sixth in the league with 87 points this season. "Obviously Bergy and I have been in touch, something that I'm sure will always happen. We check in every now and again and chat about what's going on, there's a lot of different things we have to go over and talk about. We're definitely in touch."

Marchand also touched on a number of other topics during the town hall session:

On how he's been doing during the quarantine period…

"It's been a little different. It's been a huge change for everyone. But I think personally we're trying to make the most of the time at home that we rarely get. I don't think we've ever had this much alone time as a family, even during the summers and on days off, we have a lot of family and friends and people that we tend to see.

"It's been a big change just having our family home together. We can't change what's going on, so trying to make the most of it and enjoy that. It's been a nice little change, but obviously we'd love to be back on the ice right now."

On the disappointment there would be should the season not resume…

"It would be very upsetting to not be able to see how it would have played out. We did have a really good team and a really good opportunity. But the toughest part is years like this don't come around very often. It's taken us a long time to build to where we are now and be the team we are.

"But there's a lot of teams in that position right now, a lot of good teams that were contenders this year. On the flip side, there's much better things at stake here. It's very unfortunate…we're all more concerned about people's lives that are at stake."

On what a potential return to play would look like…

"If you take guys that have been off, have had very little opportunity to work out and to train and haven't skated in months, you can't just throw them back into games in a week, everyone is gonna get hurt. There's got to be some kind of a ramp-up period. It's gonna be really, really ugly for the first few games. It would be nice to get a couple games in before playoffs start, otherwise it's really a free for all.

On if the long layoff will help or hurt the Bruins…

"It will help guys that were hurt…It's not gonna help any teams that were playing well at that time, maybe a few days might have. But when you take a month or two months, three months or whatever it's gonna be, it's gonna hurt everyone, especially the fact that we can't skate and can't keep our conditioning level up or our skills going. It's gonna hurt everyone in the league. Everyone's gonna be sloppy when they come back."

On which teams may benefit most from the layoff…

"I think the teams that are gonna come back and look good are the really young teams, teams like Toronto or Tampa, really high-end skill teams because they're gonna have the legs and be able to get it back quick. But older teams are really gonna struggle."

On the potential for playing in front of no fans...

"It would be different. It would be like a practice, really. That's the way it would feel. One of the most exciting things is having the fans there to support and the energy and the momentum swings they can create…I don't even know if logistically it would make sense to play without fans because of the costs involved. I don't know how that stuff works.

"It would be a much different feel, but if that's what it takes for us to get back on the ice to play, we just want to get out there. Hopefully they can find a way for that to happen. If it's without fans, then it's without fans. We just want a shot to get that Cup."

On if he would accept the Stanley Cup - given the B's first-place position - if the season was canceled…

"Mixed feelings. You go through the playoffs to win a Cup, but we've earned first place throughout the year. We've competed hard and we've shown all year that we're a top team. I'm mixed. I don't think I can answer that, but it would be hard to turn that trophy down in any situation.

"But at the same time, you want to earn it. I don't know what I would do in that situation, maybe take a couple drinks out of it and pass it back."

On which teammates he would least like to quarantine with…

"Probably Jake [DeBrusk]…I feel like I'd have to babysit him like one of my kids and clean up after him. But at the same time, he'd probably entertain my kids too because he's one of them. It's either that or maybe Tuukks because we'd just be hammered together the whole time and it would be his fault."

On learning from his teammates and opponents…

"If I see other guys doing something, I might try to work that into my game. Even young guys that come in now, they're so talented. I was watching [Anders] Bjork this year. He's got a couple moves that I've tried to incorporate into my game that were really difficult for me to do, but he makes it look so effortless.

"I've been working on some things like that. It's more just trying to find new things that defensemen can't always learn what you're doing, they can't get used to it and you're keeping them guessing."