Bruins Legend Derek Sanderson Heaps Praise On Brad Marchand

The Boston Bruins continued their Town Hall series on Tuesday with the legendary Derek Sanderson. Sanderson, via Zoom, answered questions for fans with 98.5 The Sports Hub color commentator Bob Beers. While most of the conversation revolved around the past, Sanderson did take time to heap praise on a current Bruins player.

Maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise, but Derek Sanderson is a big Brad Marchand fan.

“Brad Marchand is a player to me that is, you know he’s gritty, he’s in your face, he’s got a great pair of hands,” Sanderson said when asked which players he really appreciates today. He also named center Patrice Bergeron, who Sanderson called “as good as anybody in the game two-ways”.

His praise of Marchand is not just because of his recent play either. Marchand has been on Sanderson’s radar for a number of years, dating as far back as his rookie campaign.

“Marchand is my favorite. I watched him, I think it was his first training camp, in an exhibition game,” Sanderson continued. “He lost the puck behind the goal line, and I don’t know how he did this, but he cut back out and roofed it over the goalie’s shoulder and hit the crossbar. A fabulous move.

“I said, “that kid’s got talent” and he’s never ceased to amaze me since,” Sanderson recalled.

If that wasn’t enough praise for Marchand, Sanderson dubbed him worthy of learning one of his old tricks. Remember Sanderson’s ‘sweep check’? He thinks Marchand is worthy of learning and executing the move in the NHL.

“That sweep check? The perfect, perfect guy for that is Brad Marchand, he’s got complete stick control,” Sanderson said when asked which players could pull that off today.

NHL teams are sure to be thrilled if Marchand learns this little trick.