Bruins trade captain Brad Marchand to Panthers for conditional draft pick
NHL
Brad Marchand’s wish was to play his full career as a Boston Bruin. That will not happen. The Bruins are sending their captain to the Florida Panthers for a conditional draft pick, general manager Don Sweeney announced Friday.
As deadline nears, all eyes turn to a Brad Marchand trade that might actually happen
The Boston Bruins lost to the Carolina Hurricanes, 3-2, Thursday night, with an ill-timed broken stick handing Seth Jarvis the winning goal with 18.6 seconds left in regulation. That all feels thoroughly unimportant compared to what might be coming on Friday.
Shortly before puck drop Thursday, NHL insider Chris Johnston went on TSN and reported something that would have seemed unthinkable a couple weeks, days or even hours earlier: that a Brad Marchand trade was not only possible, but “likely.”
“He’s been quite clear when he’s spoken to reporters that he wants to remain in Boston. The Bruins have wanted to keep him. But what I can tell you is that at this point in time, there’s no confirmation he’s going to be traded, but the feeling league-wide is that he very much is likely to be moved by the Bruins at some point to the West,” Johnston said.
“We’ll see where this goes, because there have been some conversations on a new contract as recently as the last couple days,” he added. “So, there’s always the pivot point when we get this close, you don’t want to box yourself totally in, but it does feel like it’s moving towards a Marchand deal, which would be a surprise given that he is a lifelong Bruin and has wanted to stay there.”
ESPN’s Emily Kaplan confirmed later Thursday night that there have been “advanced” trade talks involving Marchand, as he and the Bruins “haven’t made any progress” on an extension.
So, how and why did we get here? Johnston is right that both sides have said repeatedly that they want to get an extension done that would keep Marchand in Boston. The assumption all season was that because there was mutual interest, eventually something would get done.
Except… it never got done. It didn’t get done back in late October when Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the two sides were closing in on a three-year deal. It didn’t get done over the next four months as they continued to talk. And as of late Thursday night, it hasn’t gotten done this week with the clock ticking.
The issue all along, according to sources and other reports, has been term. Marchand, who turns 37 in May, has said he plans to play into his 40s. The belief is that he wants his next contract to lock him in until then. The Bruins have been unwilling to offer him such a contract and want to keep things shorter-term, with a one- or maybe two-year deal.
And so, there’s a stalemate. And if neither side budges before Friday afternoon’s 3 p.m. trade deadline, there could be a trade.
In a typical Bruins season, one where they’re already entrenched in a playoff spot and trying to make a run, they would be more than happy to just keep Marchand and revisit the contract talks after the season.
This is not a typical Bruins season, though. After Thursday night, they find themselves sitting in 12th place in the Eastern Conference, four spots and three points out of the playoffs, with fewer games remaining than everyone around them. Marchand himself is out injured, as are top defensemen Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm.
The dream of eventually putting everything together and making a late-season run is dead. The reality that a retool is needed has finally set in. And with that retool beginning, the Bruins cannot risk losing Marchand for nothing as an unrestricted free agent after the season. It would be a disaster to watch one of their most valuable chips walk.
The Bruins didn’t necessarily need to get Marchand signed by Friday afternoon, but they needed to at least feel confident that they were on the path towards an extension. If they really do trade their captain, who ranks fourth in franchise history in games played and fifth in points, it’s because that confidence wasn’t there.
Where Marchand would go and what the trade would look like remains to be seen. The Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche have shown considerable interest in Marchand, according to sources. Given how this trade market has shaped up – heavily favoring sellers – any return would likely start with at least one of a first-round pick, top prospect, or young, impact roster player.
From those two teams specifically, the Bruins could target either’s top prospect – Providence College winger Trevor Connelly from Vegas, or Oshawa Generals center Calum Ritchie from Colorado. Connelly was a first-round pick in 2024, Ritchie in 2023. Either would immediately become Boston’s top prospect.
(UPDATE: The Avalanche traded Ritchie to the New York Islanders late Thursday night as part of a package to acquire center Brock Nelson. That likely eliminates Colorado from the list of Marchand suitors.)
Whatever the Bruins might get for Marchand could go a long way towards helping this retool. It could land them the kind of young offensive talent they desperately need for the years ahead.
Of course, there’s risk as well. Marchand, even past his prime, is still a good top-six winger, on pace for 28 goals and 63 points before getting hurt. If the Bruins want this retool to be a quick one, they need more of those, not fewer. There’s no guarantee they’ll acquire them this summer or in the next couple years. While there’s a chance they could have a handshake agreement with Marchand to just re-sign him over the summer, there’s no guarantee of that either. Marchand might feel slighted by a trade, or like his new home, or find a contract more to his liking on the open market. He would leave behind a leadership void as well.
That’s all in the future, though. In the here and now, Bruins Nation waits with bated breath to see if this once-unthinkable trade of No. 63 actually happens. The clock is ticking.
