Brad Marchand calls out Bruins star over poor behavior.

Well this is certainly an interesting little twist. 

It appears that notorious Boston Bruins agitator Brad Marchand, a player who has made a name for himself by bending and often breaking the rules on the ice in the National Hockey League, is quite a stickler for the rules off the ice. There have been rumors floating around this week regarding some disciplinary issues with young Bruins star defenseman Charlie McAvoy and it seems like they were more than just rumors. To his credit McAvoy completely owned up to the talk that was floating around behind the scenes and in a surprising turn of events he revealed, albeit reluctantly, that it was none other than Brad Marchand who had called him out on t.

“We really addressed it there, the habits that I need to have,” McAvoy said as per the Boston Globe, “as a younger guy on the team and someone who’s growing. He’s really looking out for my future. How I carry myself now will set the standard for how I am for the rest of my career. And for that I couldn’t be more thankful. Versus, say, playing in a market where maybe you’re allowed to get away with certain things . . . and I guess, you know, you don’t reach your full capabilities of being the best leader or best person you can be. I felt much better after the conversation.”

So what were McAvoy's transgressions? Well according to multiple reports it seems that the young star was late to team events on 2 separate occasions. The first such event was a team meeting revolving around special teams, something the Bruins would likely want McAvoy to be a part of given how likely he is to become a permanent, and hopefully dominant, fixture of their power play. The other incident was simply McAvoy being late to get on the team bus following a game earlier in the season. Again to his credit McAvoy shouldered the blame entirely and seem to imply that the criticism of his fellow teammates was for his benefit in the long run.

“I’m a young guy, and trying to adjust and learn all the right things,” said a contrite-sounding McAvoy. “We have the best group in the NHL as far as leaders go — these are guys that I idolize — and my ultimate goal for my career is to grow as a player, to be those guys, and take on leadership roles and be the kind of people they are on and off the ice.”

“These are lessons that I ultimately have to learn.”

What is particularly interesting about the criticism from players like Marchand is that it appears to have been done while keeping knowledge of those incidents away from the organization's upper management. McAvoy could easily have been disciplined by the team but it appears that the players chose to police themselves instead and, although the feedback for McAvoy is negative, it's likely to endear the young defenseman to his teammates who clearly remain very loyal to him. 

Team president Cam Neely indicated that he felt the players had acted appropriately in this matter.

“But having said that, our locker room handled it, and it should be that way . . . for me, it hasn’t been elevated to where it’s become a real issue . . . it’s a young player, you know, probably getting caught up in things and trying to figure things out. Not an issue.”

Still it's awfully funny to think of Brad Marchand as a disciplinarian.