Sportsnet's Ryan Dixon penned a "Big Read" about Brad Marchand's transformation into one of the league's best players--and a player who's remained one of the league's biggest pests:

Not so long ago, the notion of mentioning Marchand in the same breath as Sidney Crosby, Mario Lemieux or Alex Ovechkin was tantamount to sliding a cheeseburger into a debate about the world’s greatest steak. But in the past 18 months, few players in the NHL have scored with the frequency of the Boston Bruins left winger, who netted a career-high 37 goals last year, sits fourth in NHL scoring this season despite playing for a club that’s in the bottom third of the league offensively and suddenly finds himself included on Canada’s top squads and getting invited to all-star games.

Marchand himself still seems slightly taken aback by that idea and it’s definitely hard to square for people who first came to know him in a much different context. While many these days may toast his national-team accomplishments, those same voices will deride him as a pest and a cheap-shot artist when club loyalties come into play. And, to be sure, his more boneheaded acts have definitely drawn bi-partisan ire. Increasingly, though, any conversation about the always-buzzing Bruin requires its share of superlatives to describe just how good a player Marchand has turned himself into.

Dixon continues...