Ever since Brad Marchand first broke into the NHL ranks during the 2009-10 season, the pugnacious winger has primarily been joined at the hip with Patrice Bergeron on Boston’s top line — forming one of the most devastating two-way duos in recent memory.
Over the 13 years in which Marchand and Bergeron have shared the same locker room, the pair has logged a whopping 11,767:56 of total ice time together over a span of 811 games.
In other words, you could binge-watch every single episode of both “The Office” (99 hours) and “Breaking Bad” (62 hours), and still not reach the 196 total hours (or eight-plus days) that both Marchand and Bergeron have logged together in an NHL contest.
And given the established track record that both star forwards have put forth when skating on the same line (Boston has outscored opponents, 845-478, in that 11,767:56 of ice time), Bergeron will be counting down the days until his longtime left wing can return this season.
Bergeron might still be an elite pivot at 37 years old, but the B’s captain did acknowledge that there might be some adjustments on the horizon as Boston awaits Marchand’s return from offseason hip surgery.
"It's gonna be an adjustment,” Bergeron said Monday following the team’s first captains practice of the new season. “I think the two of us — it's second nature at this point. Like we just read and react from one another. I think we know where each other is going to be on the ice, pretty much at all times. So it does make things easier.
“That being said, you're playing with some great players and players with a lot of talent, great vision and hockey sense. It's for me to adjust, but also for whoever I'm playing with to talk and communicate and find ways to make the transition as seamless as possible.”
The return of David Krejci and the enticing offensive capabilities that should be generated by a top-six unit featuring the Czech center, David Pastrnak and Taylor Hall should take some of the scoring pressure off of Bergeron and Co. to open the season, at least for however long it takes for Marchand to return.
That being said, Jim Montgomery and the B’s coaching staff are expecting a line helmed by Bergeron to still be a threat in the offensive zone, even without its sparkplug in Marchand in place.
Having an engaged and content Jake DeBrusk at right wing can certainly help, especially if the up-and-down winger can carry over his scorching scoring stretch from last season (20 goals, 32 points in his final 46 games).
But in Marchand’s place, the Bruins will turn to their new trade pickup in Pavel Zacha, with the club looking to get the 25-year-old forward in a groove early on with extended reps in the top-six unit.
Of course, Zacha is no Marchand when it comes to his ability to handle the puck under duress and, frankly, generate something out of nothing in Grade-A ice. But both Zacha and the Bruins believe that he has more to give offensively than what he has showcased so far over his six years in New Jersey, where his career high for points in a season was 36 in 2021-22.
For all parties, the best avenue for Zacha to tap into more tangible scoring falls on a willingness to pepper the net more, an incentive that becomes easier to adopt when you’ve got a center like Bergeron driving play next to you.
"He's a great player. He's a very smart player,” Bergeron said of Zacha. “I think something I knew, even before he came in — he plays the game the right way. He's well positioned. I think he's got a great shot. And even from talking to him, I think he wants to become a bit of a shoot-first mentality a little bit more than what he's had in the past. I think he's a great player, excited to get to know him on and off the ice. A young guy that I think has got a lot of potential and can become a great player in this league.”
As we’ve noted before, Zacha has wielded a heavy, accurate shot for years now, but has often been reluctant to utilize it at a heavy clip during game action.
For Zacha, the only true impediment when it comes to that shot translating to goals has been a lack of volume, with the forward averaging 6.51 shots on goal per 60 minutes of 5v5 play last season.
Among the 387 NHL forwards who logged 500 minutes of 5v5 ice time last season, Zacha ranked 240th overall with that 6.51 shots/60 rate — with even bottom-six regulars with Boston like Trent Frederic (8.84 shots/60) and Nick Foligno (7.94) showing more of a willingness to get pucks on net.
The Bruins may not be expecting Zacha to suddenly explode for 10 goals in 14 games while serving in Marchand’s spot in the lineup, but it’s clear that the new Bruins forward has bought into the messaging when it comes to necessary tweaks in his offensive approach.
“I think it's something that especially now, playing with (Bergeron) or playing around guys like that, just trying to shoot more pucks, trying to change the mindset,” Zacha said. “Watching a lot of videos about when I had the opportunities last season to do that.
“So that's something that I was trying to focus on, especially on video — just to get in my mind that when I'm playing with players like that, I'm gonna have more opportunities to be in shooting situations and shoot more pucks. So that's something he wants me to do too. So I'll focus on it even more going forward now.”
Keeping that top line afloat during Marchand’s absence stands as one of many hurdles that Boston will face in the early months of the 2022-23 campaign — with the situation on the blue line even more daunting when it comes to covering up the sizable void created by Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk’s offseason shoulder procedures.
While Boston’s first line still has a future Hall of Famer in Bergeron and a potential 25+ goal scorer in DeBrusk, the B’s have no personnel in place to account for the minutes and production generated by McAvoy and Grzelcyk — with players like Jakub Zboril, Derek Forbort, Mike Reilly, Connor Clifton and Connor Carrick potentially pressed into heavy minutes from the get-go.
It’s far from an ideal situation for this Bruins team, especially given the “win-now” mentality that they’ve embraced ever since both Bergeron and Krejci announced their return for at least one more kick at the can.
But Bergeron isn’t fixated too much on the inevitable growing pains that await in October and November. For him and the rest of Boston’s veteran core, the possible struggles that present themselves in the fall could, in the big picture, lead to fruitful returns this spring.
“I don't think anything's changed, to be honest with you,” Bergeron said of Boston’s early injury woes. “I think, yes, you're missing some key players. We've seen it in the past, it's a good opportunity for other guys to step up and find their game, but also their place and spot on the ice and in the lineup and become better players and eventually become a better team down the line when Charlie and Matt and Brad are back."
