Anaheim Ducks retain Todd Marchant; I say "I told you so"

Today, the Anaheim Ducks announced that they have re-signed forward Todd Marchant for two more years. Marchant was one of the team's leaders this past playoff run, essentially playing on a broken foot to help the Ducks beat the San Jose Sharks in the first round and come within one game of knocking off the defending Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings in the second round (no small feat; the Red Wings eventually came within one game of repeating as champs).

Above: Todd Marchant prepares to enter the ice during pre-game warm-ups at the second most recent Anaheim Ducks game I attended, versus the Vancouver Canucks at General Motors Place on December 30, 2007.

I'd hate to toot my own horn, but... Well, scratch that. I love to toot my own horn. For the past two seasons around the National Hockey League's trading deadline, fans have been calling for Marchant to be traded because of how he's occupying precious salary cap space without producing enough offensively.

Through all of that, I remained a big supporter of Marchant. I pointed out that his value lies not on what he puts up on the scoreboard, but rather through locker room leadership. For those who don't know, let me fill you in. In 2007, when the Ducks won the Stanley Cup, he probably showed the best example of leadership I've seen in the sport -- while he was injured, he created T-shirts with inspirational words.

That sounds extremely corny, but he started out with one word on the shirt and added another word after each successful playoff round (for a total of four words). Eventually, the shirts read, "DESTINY is HEART, SACRIFICE and PASSION." Those words had a huge effect on the team, and was significant enough to be eventually engraved on the team's championship rings. I cannot think of another instance where a player has come up with something powerful enough to be immortalized in this way.

In a press call today, even Marchant described his role on the team similar to how I feel about him: "It’s easy to put a value on someone who scores 30 goals, scores 60 points, plays on your power play and all that. Someone like myself, on paper, blocking shots, killing penalties, being a leader in the dressing room day to day doesn’t show up on the scoresheet. Successful teams all have players who fill those voids. I’m thankful that the Anaheim Ducks recognize that."

This reminds me of how Samuel Pahlsson was regarded during his earlier days as a member of the franchise. He didn't put up a lot of offensive numbers, but he was a grinding player who could effectively shut down the opposition's star players. It was only in 2007 when people realized that (to the point of naming him as a big reason why the Ducks won that year). Meanwhile, the Pahlsson supporters grinned and went like, "Neener neener neener -- I told you so!"

So with that in mind...

Neener neener neener. See? I told you so.