Marchessault Changes Summer Routine, Skates With Bourque at Camp
After 31 points last season, the Predators winger changed his training and is practicing alongside Mavrik Bourque.
Jonathan Marchessault did not spend the summer telling himself last season was a fluke.
The 35-year-old Predators winger finished with 12 goals and 31 points, the lowest full-season totals of his career, and he said Friday at Nashville's training camp that he responded by changing his workouts, changing trainers and changing "everything."
"You never expect to have a bad year like I had last year, so everything was really new to me," Marchessault told NHL.com. "I tell myself it can't be worse than last year."
The 2023 Conn Smythe Trophy winner also pointed to the front office change as a source of optimism. New Predators president of hockey operations and general manager Chris MacFarland was an assistant general manager in Columbus when Marchessault, who went undrafted, played the first two games of his NHL career there.
"I always joke with my friends back home, like, a hockey head, you can't buy it," Marchessault said. "It's obvious he's one of them that has it."
One of MacFarland's offseason moves has given Marchessault something else to do. Nashville acquired 24-year-old forward Mavrik Bourque from Dallas, and Marchessault, a fellow Quebecer, reached out as soon as the trade was finalized, eventually inviting Bourque to his lake house in Quebec before the two reported to Tennessee.
"Mav reminds me of a young kid a little bit, like when I started," Marchessault said. "A lot of energy, a lot of confidence."
Bourque said the connection has helped. "It's always nice to have someone that I can talk French with, and he's a funny guy too, so he always makes the atmosphere better."
The two have skated on the same line through the first two days of camp, and head coach Andrew Brunette liked what he saw. The Tennessean also observed them together in its day-two lineup projection, while noting that the lines remain fluid. Bourque had separately told Le Journal de Québec in August that he visited Marchessault for dinner and learned about the team from him.
"You can tell he's put the work in in the summer," Brunette said of Marchessault. "He looks rejuvenated, obviously excited to play with Mavrik."
Nashville missed a playoff spot by four points last season. Opening night is less than two weeks away, and Marchessault said he takes accountability for part of that miss.
