BRIGHTON, Mass. — Brad Marchand was not one of the Big, Bad Bruins of yesteryear. It just seems that way. Given the way he plays but also the way he pesters, Marchand could grunt and lick and elbow his way into a Wayback Machine for transport to the spring of 1970 and he’d fit right in with Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Johnny Bucyk, Johnny McKenzie and the rest of those hockey hellraisers.

But now Marchand is gone, traded by the flailing, going-nowhere Bruins to the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. The Panthers may well go back to the Stanley Cup Final, especially if a healthy Marchand is contributing, whereas the Bruins, sans Marchand, are going back to the drawing board. Again.

Perhaps this is a rent-a-player situation, which has us wondering if the cool kids on the Bruins’ social media team are already working up a “HE’S BACK!!!” headline to be plopped onto the home page later this year, after Marchand has done his thing with the Panthers.

Bruins general manager Don Sweeney put it this way: “He’s beloved here. I would never close the door on that.”

That’s all later on. But it’s not too early to take a stab at determining Marchand’s place in Bruins history — and in Boston sports history, since, after all, there’s a tendency to lump the Bruins, Red Sox, Celtics and Patriots into one pot in these types of discussions. Especially with all four teams winning championships over the first decade-and-change of the 21st century.

Marchand has scored 422 goals in his NHL career, trailing only Bucyk (545), Esposito (459) and Patrice Bergeron (427) in Bruins history. He’s fifth in points (976), sixth in assists (554), sixth in plus/minus (284) and, for you folks who enjoy a little sizzle with your steak, fourth in penalty minutes (1,113). But Marchand shouldn’t be judged on stats alone, because that’s become a fruitless exercise in Boston sports. Once you start debating Orr, Ted Williams, Tom Brady, Bill Russell, Larry Bird and David Ortiz for your Mount Rushmore of Boston Sports, it’s hard to bring other names into the discussion.

So let’s just say that Marchand was, is, a player whose name belongs on the marquee for that magical stretch of history from Feb. 3, 2002, (Patriots 20, St. Louis Rams 17, Super Bowl XXXVI) to June 15, 2011, (Bruins 4, Vancouver Canucks 0, Game 7, Stanley Cup Final) when all four teams won championships. Squawk all you want about the impropriety of Marchand speed-bagging Daniel Sedin’s face during Game 6. And, OK, in 2018, the NHL was compelled to issue an edict that Marchand must stop licking opponents in the face during and after tussles. But what’s that they say about players like Marchand? Ahh, here it is: You love guys like that when they’re on your team, but you hate them when they’re on the other team.

Bruins fans will need to do some soul-searching on that one. Not only have the Bruins traded Marchand, but they’ve traded him to the Florida Panthers! The Bruins-Panthers rivalry is a far cry from Red Sox-Yankees, except that Boston’s Cup runs the past two seasons have ended with playoff eliminations against the Panthers. Any Bruins fans interested in seeing Marchand hoist the Stanley Cup this spring will need to root for the Panthers. Tough one.

Which brings us to our next point: Marchand automatically makes the short list of Boston Athletes Who Will Never Look Right in a Different Uniform. Decorum requires that we point out that Mr. Orr is at the top of this list and will remain there for all coming time. That the sainted No. 4 ever played a game for the Chicago Blackhawks, let alone 26 over two gimpy, injury-plagued seasons, is a crime against nature. Sheesh.

After that? No. 2 on that list — but still way down — is Brady. He not only led the Patriots to six Super Bowl championships, but he also established himself as (arguably) the greatest quarterback ever. For Pats fans to see him win another Super Bowl in a Bucs uniform was painful proof that it was a disaster for the Kraft family not to do everything in its power to keep him in New England.

No. 3 on my list would be former Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk sporting a Chicago White Sox uniform on Opening Day at Fenway Park in 1981. Fisk wound up playing more career games for the White Sox than for the Red Sox, but his foul pole-denting, walk-off home run in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series at Fenway remains one of the great moments in baseball history. Heck, it’s even used as a plot device in “Good Will Hunting.”

You’d think Ray Bourque as a member of the Colorado Avalanche would be on that list. I say no. Former Bruins president Harry Sinden deserves plaudits for working out a deal that allowed the long-suffering Bourque to play on a championship team, which was what happened when the Avalanche took out the New Jersey Devils in Game 7 of the 2000-01 Cup final. Bruins fans being in on the plan, it made seeing Bourque in a Colorado sweater easier to stomach. Bourque even brought the Stanley Cup to Boston’s Government Center to share the achievement with Bruins fans.

So, after that? Mookie Betts, I guess. For now, anyway. But by the time Betts is finished, he’ll have played many more games with the Dodgers, by which time his Boston years will be a distant memory. Pedro Martinez as a New York Met looked a little goofy, except even Sox fans didn’t believe it reasonable to give the Dominican Dandy a four-year contract, which is what the Mets offered. Besides, Martinez had already played for the Dodgers and Expos before logging seven seasons with the Red Sox. He was thunderously welcomed when he returned to Fenway as a Met.

I’ll add that Celtics legend Bob Cousy came out of retirement at age 41 to play seven games for the 1969-70 Cincinnati Royals while he was coaching the team. But none of those games were against the Celtics, and, anyway, the experiment lasted little more than a month.

Luis Tiant with the Yankees jumps out at me, as does Dwight Evans with the Orioles. And Paul Pierce with the Brooklyn Nets is up there, but he became something of a journeyman after that and Celtics fans got used to it.

I’ll stop there. You can supply the others. But after Orr, Brady, Fisk and a few others, Brad Marchand is banging on the door to this club. He seemingly came out of nowhere, playing his first NHL game on Oct. 21, 2009. Brady was still playing for the Patriots. Big Papi was playing DH for the Red Sox. The Celtics still had their retooled Big Three of Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. Life was good.

And now, after 16 seasons with the Bruins, Marchand is going to be a Panther. That’s going to take a ton of getting used to.

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