With 2026 Olympics on horizon, Brad Marchand is ready to prove doubters wrong again
"It's a long time away, but definitely a nice goal to set and try to chase.”
Brad Marchand has developed a knack for defying the odds.
Once viewed as nothing more than a fourth-line fly in the ointment, Marchand’s internal drive and abiding chip on his shoulder have allowed him to carve out a career that should see his No. 63 sweater eventually raised to the Garden rafters.
So when the prospect of suiting up for Team Canada during the 2026 Winter Olympics was broached, Marchand wasn’t focusing on the long odds potentially standing in his way.
“I was very disappointed — missing the last two [Olympics],” Marchand said earlier this week. “Felt like we got robbed of being there. So that’s definitely a huge goal.
“I’m gonna do everything I can to be there and make sure I’m in the best possible shape, best possible position to try to be on that team. It’s a long time away, but definitely a nice goal to set and try to chase.”
By the time those Winter Games commence in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Marchand will be 37 years old. Team Canada will likely be anchored by younger superstars like Connor McDavid, Connor Bedard, and Nathan MacKinnon.
But Marchand has yet to show much erosion in his game thus far — with the two-way winger potentially offering value to Team Canada in more of a bottom-six role. (Can you imagine a third or fourth line anchored by Marchand and a 38-year-old Sidney Crosby?)
The 2023-24 season has offered plenty of validation that Marchand still has something left in the tank. Less than two years removed from offseason surgery on both of his hips — Marchand is currently on pace for 40 goals and 77 points this season. Not too shabby for Boston’s captain, who is also in the midst of his first season without his longtime linemate in Patrice Bergeron.
Marchand has crafted an impressive resume in his hockey career — punctuated by his role in Boston’s 2011 Stanley Cup title. But a shot at Olympic Gold has long eluded him.
The NHL and NHLPA finally announced a return to best-on-best international competition earlier this month — marking the first time that NHLers will be at the Olympics since the 2014 Games in Sochi.
By 2014, Marchand had still not elevated his game as one of the premier wings in the league.
A dispute between the NHL and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) regarding costs incurred by NHL athletes prompted the NHL to not allow its players to participate in the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.
In 2022, the NHL once again prevented its players from taking part in the Winter Games in Beijing due to an uptick in COVID cases — drawing plenty of criticism from Marchand on social media.
While Marchand did win a title with Canada during the 2016 World Cup of Hockey (skating on a line with Bergeron and Crosby), he stressed last year that any international tournament crafted by the NHL ultimately pales in comparison to the Olympics.
“Even with the World Cup, it’s not the same as the Olympics,” Marchand said last season. “I mean, the last one was fun and everything … but you start mixing teams together like they did with Team Europe, it’s not the same.
“That’s why the Olympics is just different — the whole experience. I obviously don’t know, I haven’t been there. But from what I’ve heard, the whole experience of just being in the Olympic Village and being around the other athletes and just being a part of that whole thing, it’s a spectacle and you’re not going to replace that with the World Cup. Obviously hockey, the on-ice stuff, will be similar because the players are similar, but it’s not the same experience.”
Regardless of whether or not he’s able to take the ice with Team Canada in 2026, Marchand believes the return of best-on-best international competition stands as a step in the right direction for the game of hockey.
“It was really disappointing that the guys got robbed [of] the last couple of Olympics. I think it’s a great opportunity for the players, a very unique opportunity for the guys,” Marchand said. “I think they’ve also earned the right. They put themselves in a position to be the best in the world at what they do.
“And to have the best-on-best tournament, at that level, in that setting, is very, very memorable for everyone that gets to experience that — them and their families. So I think it’s a great thing for the NHL, for the players, for the game.”
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