BOSTON — The captaincy might have mellowed Brad Marchand out a bit.
The usually outspoken star winger of the Boston Bruins wasn’t going to reveal his trash-talk approach to touted rookie Connor Bedard, whose Chicago Blackhawks are in town Wednesday night.
He was asked if he had any advice for Bedard, the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft and seen by many as the game’s next generational player.
“Nope, I don’t,” he said after his team’s game-day workout at Warrior Ice Arena. What is he going to say to him? “Nothing. He’s a great player. You leave a guy like that alone.”
Marchand also wanted to keep his comments guarded when it came to the NHL’s ban on Pride rainbow tape.
“My beliefs are that you should treat everyone with respect,” said Marchand, 35. “Treat people how you want to be treated. You support who and what you want to support. Also, I don’t think we need to be used to push political agendas as well. If there’s something you feel like supporting, then you support it.
“I think a lot of it came from the backlash the players got in previous years, and it’s just unfortunate when you stand up for what’s right and you get a lot of backlash. Right now, one way or the other, it just seems like you can’t win.
“I truly believe in my heart that if there's something you support and you support it, then it's OK to have your own beliefs and feeling your own way about things, but to be pushed to do something you don't want to do or to be banned from something … you do believe in … there's got to be a line where we can all have our beliefs and support each other and everything be OK and not have tension between each side. So, it's just unfortunate we can't find common ground right now.
“It’s unfortunate that we can’t get along on some of these topics.”
Marchand said he would not disobey the ban and use rainbow tape anyway.
The Bruins open their season Wednesday night against the Blackhawks, and it can be seen on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+, starting at 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT.
