Bruins, Marchand seek right 'agitator' balance

CSNNE.com ponders the potential future of winger Brad Marchand with the Boston Bruins, wondering if perhaps it'd be best to trade him.

Sometimes - perhaps too often - his reputation is getting in the way on the ice.

“Every year I seem to have this comment about him finding a balance between being an irritant/agitator and a real good player. I think sometimes his antics get in the way. This has been a discussion I’ve had, we’ve had, Claude’s has had over the course of three, four, five years,” said Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli. “It’s a challenge for Brad to play that aggressive way, and not to cross the line. You’ve heard this from me a lot. If those were reputation calls I’d be disappointed, but sometimes that’s the reality.

“We both had productive meetings with Brad. He scored 25 goals and he thought he had a bad year. That’s where he puts his expectations and we talked about that other stuff, and we had productive conversation. I don’t know what it is, but we have to dial back some of that stuff, and that includes Marchy.”

Source: Joe Haggerty, CSNNE.com