CHICAGO – A number of teams in the NHL are mourning the loss of a veteran defenseman and current scout ahead of the NHL draft.
That includes the Blackhawks, who were one of the nine teams that Bryan Marchment played for in his 17-year NHL career. The scout for the San Jose Sharks died on Wednesday in Montreal at the age of 53 years old while preparing for the upcoming draft in that city.
A cause of death is not yet known.
While his stay in Chicago was relatively short, just over two-and-a-half seasons, Marchment had an impact on one of the more memorable Blackhawks teams before the 2010s dynasty.
“We are devastated to hear of Bryan Marchment’s passing. The longtime defenseman registered 40 points in 149 games with the Blackhawks and spent the last 15 years as a scout for the San Jose Sharks,” said the Blackhawks in a social media statement on Wednesday. “Our hearts go out to Bryan’s family and the hockey community.”
Acquired in a trade with the Jets in the summer of 1991, the defenseman would play in 149 regular season games for the Blackhawks over the course of the next two seasons and for a month in the 1993-1994 campaign. He’d scored 11 goals in that span with 29 assists and helped the team get to the cusp of a championship during his first full season.
In the 1991-1992 campaign, he helped the Blackhawks make an unexpected run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs as he played 16 games with a goal. They would defeat the Blues, Red Wings, and Oilers, winning 11-straight games at one point, as they made the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 18 years.
The team would lose in four straight to the Penguins, who won their second-consecutive Stanley Cup.
Marchment would have five goals and 15 assists in 78 games in the 1992-1993 season when the Blackhawks had the most points in the Campbell Conference with 106. A chance at another run in the playoffs was snuffed out by the Blues, who upset the Blackhawks in the Norris Division semifinals.
In the 1993-1994 campaign, he played 13 games with the Blackhawks to start the season before being traded to the Whalers in a three-team deal that included popular forward Steve Larmer going to the Rangers.
Marchment debuted with Winnipeg in the 1988-1989 season and would finish with the Flames in the 2005-2006 season. He also played with the Oilers, Lightning, Avalanche, Sharks, and Maple Leafs.