If the operative goal this summer is to change the Toronto Maple Leafs’ DNA, there’s no better target than Brad Marchand. Marchand owns the Maple Leafs, whether as a member of the Boston Bruins or the Florida Panthers and still can provide excellent value within the top-six, or excel in a top-nine role next summer in Craig Berube’s system.
It may be an untenable prospect for some Leafs fans to stomach but the reality is that there are few players better suited to change the culture and tactics than Marchand. The 37-year-old has excelled throughout the playoffs on a line with Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen, a trio that won their minutes handily against the Maple Leafs in this year’s second-round series.
Marchand lauded the Maple Leafs throughout the year, stating that the team has developed a killer instinct. Whether you take Marchand at face value, or if you believe that he’s just being gracious towards his opponent, it’s clear that he recognizes that the Leafs are a talented team that are perhaps a key piece or two from winning it all.
“I think if you look at the heat this team catches, it’s actually really unfortunate,” Marchand said following Game 7. “They’ve been working at building something really big here for awhile, and they were a different brand of hockey this year, and they’re getting crucified, and I don’t think it’s justified just because they weren’t able to do it. We’re a really good and deep team too, and that’s how things go sometimes.”
Marchand has been outright dominant throughout the postseason with the Panthers. Prior to Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, Marchand sports a plus-10 goal differential at 5-on-5, while the Panthers control 59 percent of the expected goals at 5-on-5 when he’s on the ice via Natural Stat Trick. While the Bruins quickly began its rebuilding process, Marchand proved to be one of the few players capable of driving the offence. Upon joining the Panthers in the deadline’s most shocking move, Marchand regained his elite form and he’s cooking opponents in a nominal top-nine role, and he could get some extended minutes in trying to slow down Connor McDavid.
Split between both the Bruins and Panthers, Marchand posted 23 goals and 51 points in 71 regular season games. He won’t directly replicate Mitch Marner’s offensive impact during the regular season, but that won’t be the role he’s asked to play. Marchand can contribute secondary scoring with the ability to take over games, especially in the clutch, he provides physicality, toughness, an ability to draw penalties an elite rate and real championship pedigree. You want to talk about a DNA change? There may be no player in the NHL constituted differently than the makeup of the Maple Leafs’ current core and he would inject a winning quality into a star-studded team that habitually fails to live up to the sum of their parts.
Marchand is listed as Daily Faceoff’s seventh-ranked free agent entering this summer, while AFP Analytics projects that he’ll receive a two-year contract worth $5.1 million annually. It definitely seems more than likely that Marchand will command more, as he reportedly balked at the Bruins’ offer before being traded to the Panthers. If Mitch Marner elects to test free agency, the Maple Leafs could use some of their renewed cap space to make a compelling offer to Marchand, who certainly has base familiarity with the division and is exactly the type of playoff performer that the team has been searching for over the past decade.
The idea of paying a 37-year-old winger in order to shake up the roster may be an unwelcome proposition in the vast majority of cases. Marchand excels in all situations, he will provide leadership, secondary scoring, plus-defence and penalty killing, along with the demeanour and composure to win it all. It’s certainly something the Maple Leafs have to consider in a promised summer of change.
