Marchand followed up his impressive rookie showing with a 28-goal season in 2011-12 and was a critical part of Boston’s run to another Stanley Cup Final in 2013. He then added a 20-plus goal season in 2013. -14 and 2014-15, before exploding for 37 goals in 2015-16.
The following fall, however, is where Marchand believes it all really clicked.
Playing on a line with Bergeron and Sidney Crosby at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, Marchand scored the winning goal in Game 2 of the best-of-three format against Team Europe to win the gold medal for Team Canada, opening eyes in the hockey world for his skill and love for the game.
“2016 at the World Cup is kind of the time,” Marchand, who has eight points (five goals, three assists) in six games to finish second in tournament scoring to Crosby, said when he realized that he is one of the elite players in the NHL.
“I’ve always looked at there being categories of players in this league. You have kind of three tiers – the top-tier guys, all the superstars; then you have the mid-tier guys guys who are all good players; and then the bottom class is guys who are in and out of the league.
“I always thought of myself as the middle level and after I made that World Cup team and all the superstars were in that team, I knew I could play at that level, and no anything that separates myself.they form apart from where I place myself mentally.
“When I started to believe that I could be as good as them, then it all started to fall into place.”
Three days before Marchand’s World Cup victory, he signed an eight-year, $49 million contract extension with the Bruins, cementing his position as one of Boston’s core players for the better part of a decade. And from there, the league started to get more attention.
Marchand was selected to the All-Star Game in 2017 and 2018, a First-Team All-Star in 2016-17 and 2020-21 and a Second-Team All-Star in 2018-19 and 2019-20. In 2016-17, he scored a career-high 39 goals, marking the second of four consecutive seasons with 34 or more goals. And in 2018-19, a year in which he helped Boston within one game of another Stanley Cup title, he hit the 100-point plateau for the first time.
He also finished in the top-11 in Hart Trophy voting five times since 2016-17, including fifth-place appearances in 2018-19 and 2020-21.
“From one year to the next, his growth has always improved,” Bergeron said. “He’s become a fantastic player, an elite player in this league, one of the best left wings to play the game. Kudos to his competitiveness but also to his work ethic and his drive, in fact.
“He just wants to be the best and he wants to compete and find ways to win and win any fights he wants.”