At the beginning of his Boston tenure, Brad Marchand stood out as an agitator with a productive scoring touch. Over time, he overcame his “little ball of hate” persona to grow into one of the team’s top leaders and became a bonafide top-tier left winger.
While his edgier traits still popped up at times — including his pair of suspensions from the 2021-22 campaign — Marchand became more of an asset and less of a liability over the last decade. His transformation came full circle on Wednesday when the Bruins named him as the 27th captain in team history.