FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Brad Marchand is many things. Sarcastic, most definitely. A pest on the ice, absolutely. Someone who doesn’t mind a little bonus physicality, goes without saying. His “little ball of hate” nickname even got repeated once by President Barack Obama.
The Florida Panthers knew all of this when they acquired him.
And then they learned something else. Marchand is … likeable?
“Good person and fun to be around,” Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. “Great poker player as well.”
The Toronto Maple Leafs probably believe that. To use the poker term, they’ve been all-in against Marchand a few times at playoff time and always lost.
One of hockey’s best rivalries — Toronto fans vs. Marchand — resumes Monday night, when the Maple Leafs host the Panthers in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference second-round series. He tends to be booed whenever he touches the puck in Toronto, the fans there remembering how their team went up against Marchand and the Boston Bruins four previous times, all those series going to Game 7, all of them going Boston’s way.
The fans don’t like him. Marchand doesn’t mind. There are bigger priorities. There’s a Cup to chase.
“To be honest, I never really cared,” Marchand said. “Fans get a very small insight of who we are as people. They watch the games and they build opinions on players off who they are on the ice. Fans that I meet and interact with, I think they have a different perception.”
Make no mistake, there seems to be a perception about the Panthers. Florida forward Matthew Tkachuk isn’t exactly adored in other buildings around the NHL. Same goes for another Florida forward, Sam Bennett. Like Marchand, they’re tough, rugged, unafraid of contact. It would probably shock fans in other markets to learn that Tkachuk — like the rest of his family — support a slew of causes quietly without seeking attention for doing so. And Bennett’s passion is finding sheltered animals forever homes; with every goal he scores, he pays the adoption fee to have another dog or cat join a new family.
On-ice perception is one thing, Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. Actual reality is another.
“Those three men are wonderful to the support staff, trainers, coaches, everybody, flight attendants, all the people who help move our team and don’t get on camera,” Maurice said. “They’re just fantastic to watch. They make you a better person just watching them.”
Marchand might talk a lot on the ice — chirping is one of his favorite hobbies — but he’s been downright gentlemanly since joining the Panthers. He’s played in 15 games since the trade; he’s taken only four minor penalties in that span. He’s settled in on Florida’s third line, been a key part of the penalty-kill, perfectly content to do his job.
The idea of someone who was the Bruins’ captain joining Florida — a playoff rival — might have seemed unlikely at best a few months ago. But someone who turns 37 on May 11 knows that there might not be too many more chances to win another Stanley Cup, so he embraced the move to Florida.
“Everyone’s path is different,” Marchand said. “Mine usually was built off of emotion and it was very intense and very competitive and sometimes when you do that you cross the line and have to play a certain way that gets me engaged all the time. Sometimes it rubs people the wrong way and it comes off in a way people don’t like. But I don’t play the game for anybody outside of myself and my team.”
It was not the easiest of transitions for Marchand — who had spent his entire NHL career in Boston — after the trade. That’s not because of personality or past playoff battles; it’s because he was injured and recovering. His rehab work was done on a different schedule than basically the rest of the team, even keeping him from traveling with the club in the early going. It delayed his full acclimation.
Once he could play again, things fell into place with the Panthers quickly.
“I’ve seen a lot of guys kind of come in to the teams I was on in the past. And there’s some guys that came in the wrong way and guys came in right way,” Marchand said. “I tried to learn from that and just kind of come in the right way and not step on toes and kind of watch and learn how things are done.”
Panthers fans throw toy plastic rats onto the ice after wins, a nod back to the team’s 1995-96 season. As the story goes, Florida’s Scott Mellanby killed a rat in the locker room with his stick before opening night that season and then scored two goals in that game. “Rat trick” was the phrase that was born from that, and the rats have been part of Florida lore ever since.
These days, when the rats rain down, Panthers teammates fire them at Marchand’s legs before he can leave the ice. It’s a badge of honor. Panthers fans — who were never exactly thrilled by seeing him before the trade, of course — used to throw them at Marchand. They throw them for him now.
“It means we won,” Marchand said. “That’s a good thing.”
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