Brad Marchand isn’t getting too hot and bothered by Brandon Prust.
The Boston Bruins winger spoke to the media Monday about Prust’s comments after the Vancouver Canucks winger was fined $5,000 for spearing Marchand. Prust called it the “best money I ever spent,” and while Marchand did take a dig at the Canuck, he also tried to tone down the drama.
“I think part of my game is to get under people’s skin, and I thought that he played with a lot more class in his game … but clearly he doesn’t have that integrity that I think a lot of people thought he had,” Marchand said, per The Boston Globe’s Amalie Benjamin.
Marchand added that he’s generally more worried about Brad Marchand than Brandon Prust.
“I mean, he’s entitled to his opinion,” Marchand said. “I’m not overly concerned about anything he has to say. He’s Brandon Prust, I’m not too concerned about him. He’s allowed to think that way and say whatever he wants. I’ll continue my day, regardless of how he feels.”
The Bruins winger made it clear he doesn’t take any of it personally and that he has speared players himself. Marchand said he wouldn’t have cared if the NHL decided not to punish Prust, either.
“Honestly, even if he wasn’t fined, I wouldn’t have been upset,” Marchand said, per Benjamin. “It’s fine that he is, but I wouldn’t want to see him lose that much money over what happened. I think suspensions are worthy when guys get hurt or it’s a really bad shot. Like I said, I’ve done that before, lots of guys do that all the time. It is what it is. It’s part of the game.”
Still, as the “little ball of hate” knows, he’s not always 100 percent innocent when things like this happen.
“I might have said something to him earlier in the game,” Marchand said. “But I can’t really say what that was.”
Thumbnail photo via Perry Nelson/USA TODAY Sports Images
