Bruins’ Brad Marchand Reveals Shocking ‘Mortal Enemy’

Bruins captain Brad Marchand has had a very colorful career since he broke into the NHL with Boston.

Marchand’s feisty, fiery, and fierce brand of hockey has been a cornerstone of his professional success. However, he’s had to learn to balance his emotions in order to transform into the veteran leader he is today.

Across nearly 16 seasons and 1,086 games with the Bruins, the 36-year-old built a reputation for being antagonistic on the ice and playing with an edge. For the most part, though, most franchises would love to have Marchand on their team.

He feels the same way about some of the players he’s tangled with over the years. Well, except for one player who Marchand admitted to having a “problem” with.

“The only guy that I ever really had a problem with was (Tomáš) Plekanec,” Marchand told DJ Bean and Pete Blackburn during an interview on the “What Chaos!” podcast. “He was the only guy that every time I was on the ice with him, I wanted to take a run at him, and I had a problem with him.”

Marchand joked that part of his issue with the Canadiens forward was the turtleneck he wore every game, but he then explained that it had more to do with the Boston-Montreal rivalry than anything else.

“We just got into it a couple of times, and he just irked me,” Marchand said. “He’s just one of those guys you look at like,’ Ah.’ Probably how everybody looks at me.

“… Montreal, we had bad blood with that team for a while. That was when they were very competitive; we were very competitive. That rivalry between our two teams … it was wild, and it was awesome.”

Bruins legend Patrice Bergeron recently got real about the 2011 Stanley Cup champion’s on-ice antics that Marchand himself can’t deny.

“I was on a pretty good roll there,” Marchand quipped. “Getting suspended every eight months obviously added to it. Obviously, I’ve tried to tone down … I’m not perfect obviously, I make mistakes, and I will continue to.”

Marchand will have the opportunity to play with other rivals when he represents Team Canada in the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off. He is one of four Bruins players to participate in the tournament, joining Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman for Team USA and Elias Lindholm, who is suiting up for Sweden.