1000 NHL games: Martin St-Louis pays tribute to Brad Marchand

It’s a rather special day in the NHL today, with a ton of afternoon games on the Bettman circuit. For those who don’t know, it’s a holiday in the U.S. (Presidents’ Day, to be precise), which explains the special schedule.

One of the highlights was the Stars’ visit to Boston to take on the Bruins in a match-up between two of the league’s top teams.

A true duel of the titans… and a possible foretaste of the Stanley Cup Final, although we’re still a long way from that. The Bruins won 4-3 in the ninth round of the shootout.

Why am I telling you about this particular game? It’s because today marked the 1,000th career game for Brad Marchand, who reached the plateau last week while the club was away.

For the occasion, Marchand was treated to a flurry of tributes in what has been an impressive career… and among those honoring him was Martin St-Louis, who prepared a little video for him.

It starts at around 3:15 of the following video, for those interested:

More salutes to 6️⃣3️⃣ #Marchy1000 | #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/SaZup7rmmK

– Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) February 19, 2024

Remember that St-Louis was the Bruins forward’s childhood idol. And for a small forward, it’s understandable that Marchand idolized St-Louis in his quest to reach the NHL.

In his video, the Canadiens’ head coach praises Marchand for rising through the ranks, and for doing it the right way: by working hard, never stopping improving and finding a way to make himself essential to Boston.

St-Louis remembers playing against him when Marchand was just a fourth-three player, and today he’s impressed that Marchand’s “choices” (not luck) have made him a star player in the league.

For those interested, Patrice Bergeron wasn’t on hand, but took the time to send a video to his friend and former teammate.

The same goes for many Bruins greats, for that matter.

Welcoming the Cap to the club #Marchy1000 | #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/AmisDH9Nvx

– Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) February 19, 2024

The Bruins’ little pest has never been the most popular player in Quebec, as he has a knack for making other teams hate him, but Marchand’s fine career is worthy of mention.

And it’s nice to see that his childhood idol, who now coaches the rival Bruins, still took the time to honor him. Well done, really.

In bursts

– Speaking of guys who aren’t crowd favorites in Montreal.

Most points through 700 career games in the cap era:

931 – Connor McDavid
930 – Sidney Crosby
834 – Alex Ovechkin
825 – Evgeni Malkin
823 – Nikita Kucherov (not including tonight’s game)

Is Kuch top 5 in the cap era? pic.twitter.com/5HwNSgeoD4

– Big Head Hockey (@BigHeadHcky) February 20, 2024

– Great moment for the Flames defenseman.