Marchand: Bruins' roster was 'a little bit divided' last year
The Boston Bruins were a team which never seemed to come together on the ice last season, and one of the reasons for that failure could be because the players never came together off the ice.
In a recent interview with CSN New England, Bruins forward Brad Marchand admitted that the personalities on the team last season never fully meshed.
"In the past years, we were family, but for some reason this past year we were definitely a little bit divided and had different cliques," Marchand told CSN New England. "It could’ve been because we had a lot of guys coming up in different times from Providence; they felt a lot more together, and it seemed like the older guys didn’t do a good job at integrating other guys.
"This year we have to do a much better job collectively as a group to make sure we’re all on [the same page], and we’re a unit that will transfer over to the ice that will allow us to play better hockey."
According to CSN, Marchand did not name any specific names in saying that the team had different cliques, but the outlet cited sources as saying that older players never made enough of an effort to make the younger players on the roster feel included.
The Bruins lost some key locker room personalities over the past few years with the departure of Shawn Thornton and Andrew Ference, and the team has yet to replace those players with anyone known for being a solid locker room guy. Still, some of the team's new additions such as Jimmy Hayes and Matt Beleskey -- as well as some of the players already on the Bruins' roster -- will likely have a chance to step up this season as leaders on a team with a seeming dearth of strong locker room bonds.
(h/t CSN New England)
