The Boston Bruins traded team captain Brad Marchand to the Florida Panthers before Friday’s NHL trade deadline, ending the left winger’s 16-year career with the team.
The trade was made under the pretense of the Bruins falling short of expectations this season, hanging on the fringes of playoff contention. Additionally, Marchand will be a free agent at the end of the 2024-25 campaign. And at the age of 36, perhaps it was time for both sides to move on.
However, Marchand might still be with the Bruins if he had accepted a contract offer that he felt was below his value. Boston offered Marchand a three-year contract in February but the two sides couldn’t agree on a financial figure, ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported.
The initial offer to Marchand was for a two-year contract, but the veteran pushed for a third year on the deal. The front office needed ownership approval for that third year and eventually got it. Yet the overall package was reportedly for less money than Marchand felt he was worth. No exact dollar figures were reported.
“Just had a gap. Deep down, we had been talking really from day two, I think, of free agency in terms of what his intentions were and where we were at,” Bruins general manager Don Sweeney told reporters, via The Hockey News.
“We always had a bit of a term gap that took us a while and felt that we had been able to bridge that,” he added. “But again, a player is more than entitled to have an understanding of what they think their market value is and do what’s best for them. And I have to always respect that.”
Marchand, currently sidelined with a lower-body injury, is being paid $6.125 million in the final year of an eight-year, $49 million pact he signed before the 2016-17 season.
As a result of negotiations stalling, the Bruins decided to trade their longtime star to the Panthers in exchange for a conditional draft pick. Boston will receive at least a 2027 first-round selection. But that could become a 2027 or 2028 first-rounder if Florida advances through two rounds of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs while Marchand plays in 50% of their games.
Florida was among the preferred destinations for Marchand, who wanted to stay on the East Coast to be near family and go to a playoff contender.
During his 16 seasons in Boston, Marchand scored 422 goals with 554 assists in 1,090 games. He has scored 20 or more goals for 12 consecutive seasons. His best performance was during the 2018-19 campaign when he tallied 100 points to lead the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Final, where they lost to the St. Louis Blues in seven games.
Marchand was on the 2010-11 team that won the Stanley Cup, besting the Vancouver Canucks in seven games. He is the Bruins’ all-time leader with 56 postseason goals and his playoff point total of 138 trails only Ray Bourque in franchise history
