TOP 100 OILERS: BRYAN MARCHMENT (90)
8 years ago
Based on Bad Ass Factor (BAF) alone, Bryan Marchment makes the list of Top 100 Edmonton Oilers. If there’s been a player who has donned Oilers silks who shredded more knee ligaments and left more opponents writhing on the ice in pain over the course of his career than the bent-nosed blueliner teammates called Mush, I can’t think of him.
If Marchment patrolled the blue line for your team, as he did with the Oilers for parts of four seasons, he was an old-school banger who made opponents pay a price for not having their heads up or admiring a pass. If he played for the other guys, he was a dirty @%#$# cheap shot artist who deserved an ass-kicking the moment he skated onto the ice. Either way, Mush went about his work with great diligence and commitment.
Bryan Marchment #7
Defenseman
| NUMBER: | 7 | BIRTHDATE: | May 1, 1969 |
| HEIGHT: | 6′ 1″ | BIRTHPLACE: | Scarborough, ON, Canada |
| WEIGHT: | 200 | DRAFTED: | WIN / 1987 NHL Entry Draft |
| SHOOTS: | Left | ROUND: | 1st (16th overall) |
BY THE NUMBERS
CAREER REGULAR SEASON STATISTICS
| SEASON | TEAM | GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | PPG | SHG | GWG | S | S% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988-89 | JETS (1979) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 |
| 1988-89 | BELLEVILLE BULLS-OHL | 43 | 14 | 36 | 50 | 118 | ||||||
| 1989-90 | JETS (1979) | 7 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0.0 |
| 1989-90 | MONCTON HAWKS-AHL | 56 | 4 | 19 | 23 | 217 | ||||||
| 1990-91 | JETS (1979) | 28 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -5 | 91 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 8.3 |
| 1990-91 | MONCTON HAWKS-AHL | 33 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 101 | ||||||
| 1991-92 | BLACKHAWKS | 58 | 5 | 10 | 15 | -4 | 168 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 55 | 9.1 |
| 1992-93 | BLACKHAWKS | 78 | 5 | 15 | 20 | 15 | 313 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 75 | 6.7 |
| 1993-94 | BLACKHAWKS | 13 | 1 | 4 | 5 | -2 | 42 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 5.6 |
| 1993-94 | WHALERS | 42 | 3 | 7 | 10 | -12 | 124 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 74 | 4.0 |
| 1994-95 | OILERS | 40 | 1 | 5 | 6 | -11 | 184 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 57 | 1.8 |
| 1995-96 | OILERS | 78 | 3 | 15 | 18 | -7 | 202 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 96 | 3.1 |
| 1996-97 | OILERS | 71 | 3 | 13 | 16 | 13 | 132 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 89 | 3.4 |
| 1997-98 | OILERS | 27 | 0 | 4 | 4 | -2 | 58 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 0.0 |
| 1997-98 | LIGHTNING | 22 | 2 | 4 | 6 | -3 | 43 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 10.0 |
| 1997-98 | SHARKS | 12 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 43 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0.0 |
| 1998-99 | SHARKS | 59 | 2 | 6 | 8 | -7 | 101 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 49 | 4.1 |
| 1999-00 | SHARKS | 49 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 72 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 0.0 |
| 2000-01 | SHARKS | 75 | 7 | 11 | 18 | 15 | 204 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 73 | 9.6 |
| 2001-02 | SHARKS | 72 | 2 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 178 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 68 | 2.9 |
| 2002-03 | SHARKS | 67 | 2 | 9 | 11 | -2 | 108 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66 | 3.0 |
| 2002-03 | AVALANCHE | 14 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 0.0 |
| 2003-04 | MAPLE LEAFS | 75 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 106 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 56 | 1.8 |
| 2005-06 | FLAMES | 37 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 75 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 6.2 |
| NHL TOTALS | 926 | 40 | 142 | 182 | 31 | 2,307 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 947 | 4.2 |
CAREER PLAYOFF STATISTICS
| SEASON | TEAM | GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | PPG | SHG | GWG | S | S% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991-92 | BLACKHAWKS | 16 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 9.1 |
| 1992-93 | BLACKHAWKS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.0 |
| 1996-97 | OILERS | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.0 |
| 1997-98 | SHARKS | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0.0 |
| 1998-99 | SHARKS | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0.0 |
| 1999-00 | SHARKS | 11 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 12.5 |
| 2000-01 | SHARKS | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0.0 |
| 2001-02 | SHARKS | 12 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 9.1 |
| 2002-03 | AVALANCHE | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.0 |
| 2003-04 | MAPLE LEAFS | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.0 |
| NHL TOTALS | 83 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 102 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 73 | 5.5 |
NOTABLE
Marchment played no favourites, and there was no such thing as friends on the ice, as Oiler fans well remember. A teammate of Doug Weight during his entire tenure with the Oilers, Marchment had Edmonton fans screaming for his blood after a knee-on-knee hit on Weight Dec. 28, 2000 in San Jose.
With Weight being angled off and engaged by Gary Suter, Marchment came in and clipped Weight on the left knee. Weight, uninjured but incensed, later attacked Marchment. Marchment skated away from the retaliatory outburst smirking, Weight got tossed out of the game for it.
Early in the next game back in Edmonton, Georges Laraque, who was criticized for not inflicting any payback in San Jose, made a bee-line for Marchment, dropping him with a left hand on the button in brief, furious scrap in front of the team benches. In the post-game scrum, Marchment shrugged it off as no big deal. Part of the game — like the hit that led to it.
THE STORY
A habitual offender in his era, Marchment was suspended 13 times in his first 12 seasons. The list of players he injured includes Mike Modano, Joe Nieuwendyk, Greg Adams, Mike Gartner, Kevin Dineen, Peter Zezel, Pavel Bure, Sami Salo, Paul Kariya, Wendel Clark and Martin Ručínský.
One can only imagine how the NHL’s head office would handle Marchment today if he went about his business now as he did them, but suffice to say he’d be contributing all of his salary to the player fund for suspensions before drawing a lifetime ban.
Marchment, now a scout and coach with the Sharks, never made excuses or apologies for the way he played as he cut a swath of pain through the NHL, and how you viewed him then depended entirely on which jersey he was wearing at the time. On BAF alone, Mush makes my list.
PREVIOUSLY:
- 91. Miroslav Satan
- 92. David Perron
- 93. Igor Ulanov
- 94. Justin Schultz
- 95. Scott Mellanby
- 96. Norm McIver
- 97. Mark Lamb
- 98. Pat Price
- 99. Dean McAmmond
- 100 Marc-Andre Bergeron
This series will look at the top 100 Edmonton Oilers from the NHL era 1979-80 to 2014-15, starting with 100 and working up.
Listen to Robin Brownlee Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the Jason Gregor Show on TSN 1260.
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