What Brad Marchand Will Tell Bruins Centers With Top-Line Aspirations

Brad Marchand knows the Boston Bruins will have a different look when they take the ice in the season opener against the Chicago Blackhawks at TD Garden on Oct. 11.

With his longtime teammate and linemate Patrice Bergeron retiring after playing 19 years with a Spoked-B on his chest, Marchand will have a new center for the first time since 2011.

Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha are most likely the centers to take on the roles of leading the first and second lines with Marchand on the left wing and he doesn’t want them to try and replicate the past.

“I think the biggest thing that we have to do is to make sure that we don’t try to play the same way that Bergy and I played,” Marchand told reporters following the Bruins captains’ practice at Warrior Ice Arena on Tuesday. “If I’m playing with Coyle or I’m playing with Zacha, they can’t play like, or have to play like Bergy, and I’m not gonna play like their past wingers.  We have to build our own chemistry from Day 1.”

Marchand knows that Bergeron is the type of player that a lot of centers emulate their games after, but wants Coyle and Zacha to play their game and work with Marchand to find their way together.

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“I gotta find what strengths either one of those guys have, and play within that,” Marchand said. “Same for me, it took years to build what Bergy and I had and whoever was with us at that point in time. It’s just something that we’re gonna have to continue to work on every day in practice, to watch video and we’re gonna have to build it throughout the season, and during that season and the year after that. It’ll be a work in progress, but the biggest thing is those two guys have a phenomenal opportunity ahead of themselves.”

Even without Bergeron and Krejci as the one-two punch down the middle, the Bruins still have a solid core and Coyle has expressed his excitement for the upcoming challenge.

“I’m sure they’ve both been waiting for this moment,” Marchand added. “They’re gonna drive the team and play a lot of big (power play) and (penalty kill) minutes, important minutes, last minute of the game, whether we’re up or down by a goal. Guys are looking forward to that their whole careers. So huge opportunities for them but it’s something that we all have to work on.”