24 goals is good enough for most top-end players, but Brad Marchand's 2014-15 season was called into question as he had a stretch of 15 games during the playoff push where he failed to score a goal. Not satisfied with chalking that up to just bad shooting luck, Matt Kalman investigated further. He found that Marchand was playing with an injured elbow:

"There were days where I couldn't even hold my stick," Marchand said. "It was always tough to shoot. There'd be times throughout the year where it was good. But when it was bad it was tough to even … like I wasn't shooting in practice and stuff like that. So it definitely affected my game a bit. So it was good to get it done."

This injury was actually sustained back in the 2014 playoffs, where Marchand also put up disappointing numbers with 0 goals and 5 assists over 12 games against Detroit and Montreal. This injury continued to plague him in the 2014-15 season, albeit less severely:

"It wasn't as bad throughout [2014-15] as it was before the [2014] playoffs," Marchand said. "But it definitely still bothered me at times. It was more of a nuisance. Some days I wouldn't be able to work on things and it was frustrating."

Injuries are a part of hockey, as is playing through them. But when a player has a disappointing season, sometimes injuries can provide an explanation. It should be noted that Marchand said nothing about his injury to the media, per se, until now.

Below is the original picture that first led us and the media to speculate about an injury. Thanks to Marina Molnar of WeekendAtBergys for finding the picture of him in the wrap first.





So, with that being said: How many goals do you think a healthy Marchand will score next year? An injured, 26 years old Marchand led the Bruins in goals last year. Can he repeat that? Is 30 goals possible?







