Brad Marchand and Boston Bruins agree to eight year extension

The Boston Bruins have agreed to an eight year extension worth $49 million with Brad Marchand. 

Brad Marchand is arguably the Boston Bruins’ best wing. He forms one of the NHL’s elite shutdown lines with Patrice Bergeron. Coming off a career year in 2015-16, Marchand was set to cash in in free agency after the 2016-17 season. However, the Bruins aren’t going to let him hit the open market. According to Bob McKenzie, Boston has agreed to an eight-year extension with Marchand worth $49 million.

Marchand’s annual cap hit will be $6.125 million, which places him sixth among left wings. For a player like Marchand, that’s very good value. Considering the Bruins gave David Backes, an aging forward, $6 million a year, the deal with Marchand seems very good.

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Even though Marchand has been known to spend a lot of time in the penalty box, he’s still one of the NHL’s premier left wings. He’s arguably the league’s best defensive forward and its most effective pest. Marchand has always been a good goal scorer, but he took his game to the next level in 2015-16 by scoring a career high 37 goals to go along with 61 points in 77 games. The scary part? His 2015-16 shooting percentage of 14.8 percent is below his career average of 15 percent.

By all accounts, this is a solid deal for the Bruins. They get him through his age 36 season and it’s at a remarkable price. Moreover, he should earn most of the $49 million he’s due over the next eight years within the first five or six years of the deal. Through 454 regular season games, Marchand has 153 goals and 136 assists for 289 points with a plus-minus rating of +138. However, he does have 434 penalty minutes. Marchand has 19 career short-handed goals and 20 power play goals, so credit the Bruins for doing what was necessary to keep Marchand.