The Bruins are shipping out captain Brad Marchand to the Panthers, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports the trade is happening, pending league call. Boston is receiving a 2027 second-round pick that will upgrade to a 2028 first-round pick if conditions are met, per John Buccigross of ESPN. The Bruins will retain 50 percent of Marchand’s $6.125MM cap hit, per George Richards of Florida Hockey Now, alleviating any cap concerns Florida would have.
Both sides have made the deal official. The conditional second-round pick will upgrade to a first-round pick if Florida wins two rounds of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs and Marchand appears in at least half of the team’s playoff games.
Marchand is currently injured. He is expected to miss the next “couple of weeks” with an upper-body injury, Panthers general manager Bill Zito told media including David Dwork of The Hockey News. Bruins general manager Don Sweeney told Connor Ryan of the Boston Globe that Marchand should miss three-to-four weeks.
Just days after swapping top young goaltender Spencer Knight for top-four defenseman Seth Jones, the Florida Panthers are taking another swing at landing the blockbuster deal of the Trade Deadline. They’re able to take on Marchand’s reduced $3.0625MM cap hit after placing star winger Matthew Tkachuk on long-term injured reserve. Tkachuk is expected to likely miss the remaining regular season after suffering a lower-body injury at the 4-Nations Face-Off.
Marchand will fill Tkachuks’ role of getting under opponents’ skin perfectly. Tenacious forechecking and high scoring have been the defining attributes of Marchand’s 16-year career with the Bruins. He ranks fourth in Bruins franchise history in goals (422), games played (1,090), and penalty minutes (1,113). Marchand also ranks fifth in all-time points (976). Those are impressive records for a career-long player on an Original Six club, and they shape Marchand’s standing as one of the best Bruins of the 2010s.
Marchand’s legacy in Boston runs deep. The Bruins originally drafted him in the third round of the 2006 NHL Draft and awarded him with his NHL debut four years later. Marchand didn’t break out in 20 regular season games to start his career, but did explode as a high-
impact, top-six forward as Boston entered the 2011 postseason. He recorded 11 goals, 19 points, 40 penalty minutes, and a plus-12 in 25 games of Boston’s playoff run, ultimately supporting the team to their first Stanley Cup win since 1972.
That postseason performance stapled Marchand to Boston’s top-six, and he didn’t give the team a chance to second-guess. He scored 21 goals and 41 points in 77 games in his first full NHL season. He went on to average 23.2 goals and 45.4 points each season through the first five years of his career. But Marchand had plenty more in store. He broke out with 37 goals and 61 points in the 2015-16 season, the start of seven-year streak of rivaling or breaking the 30-goal mark. Along the way, Marchand posted a career-high 100 points in the 2018-19 season – on the back of a dangerous duo with Boston’s David Pastrnak.
Marchand continues to produce into this season. He has 21 goals and 47 points on the year, good for second on the Bruins in goals and points – and an 82-game pace of 28 goals and 63 points. But his eight-year contract is set to expire at the end of the season, and Boston has opted to net assets for him while they can rather than let him walk in free agency.
The headache of playing against Marchand could only get worse for his opponents around the Atlantic Division. This move sends him to the reigning Stanley Cup champions, where the role of a top-line grinder and scorer is clearly carved out. The Panthers rank second in the Eastern Conference with a 39-21-3 record this season. They also rank eighth in the NHL with a 3.25 goals-per-game average – just over 1.5 goals more than Boston has averaged this season.
Moving to an improved offense, and likely set to fill a role next to superstar Aleksander Barkov, should give Marchand a major scoring boost. He managed 29 goals and 67 points last season, and could quickly rediscover those totals as the Panthers look for a hard-nosed finisher in front of the net.
While the Panthers work to make the most out of Marchand’s first move away from Boston, the Bruins will work to find a reasonable top-line replacement. Boston acquired forward Casey Mittelstadt from the Colorado Avalanche earlier on Deadline day, which could open up a chance for Elias Lindholm or Matthew Poitras to push for the top left-wing role. If not a converted center, Boston will likely need to turn towards spot scorers like Morgan Geekie or Riley Tufte.
The Bruins could also use this as a golden chance to recall top prospect Fabian Lysell. Lysell ranks third among active Providence Bruins in scoring with 30 points in 46 games this season. He received his NHL debut earlier this season, but was reassigned after one outing without any scoring. Many fans have yearned for Lysell’s call-up throughout most of the last two seasons – though it seems Boston is still wanting him to find another gear before they promote him full-time. Lysell scored 50 points in 56 AHL games last year – good for fourth on Providence in scoring.
Marchand took over Boston’s captaincy after star Patrice Bergeron retired in 2023. Dealing him away will be a monumental shift for the Bruins lineup, that will likely take years to fully heal from. The potential for a 2028 first-round pick will support that process, though Boston could still end up a top name in buyer’s markets to come as they look to redefine their future. Meanwhile, Florida will inherent Marchand’s expiring contract. The 36-year-old winger could reasonably sign a short-term deal this summer to round out the end of his career, but that interest could be gauged by how long of a postseason run Florida is able to achieve. The Panthers added two top-of-the-lineup pieces in Marchand and Jones, bolstering a roster that was already ranked near the top of the NHL. They’ll be a formidable foe as the postseason rolls around.
Incoming flurry of Twitter posts saying “but, it’s after 3 PM!”
Extremely weird. Now I hope the Bruins win the cup this year lol.
um, no
This is going to look very weird for a really long time
Don’t understand what Boston is doing. They have self sabotaged, as well.
Rather than endure a rough patch, they fire a Jack Adams guy.
Then instead of trading for a 1C (Schenn?) and pushing everyone into the right spots with a young goalie and solid D corps, they blow it up for (pending this deal) not amazing returns.
Schenn is not a 1C. He’s a down trending 2C.
Ya defs not a 1C more like 2-3C with a 6.5 cap hit
marchand will be back in July relax
The full details haven’t been released yet but this better be a massive overpayment by the Panthers.
I mean the guy is injured right now, I don’t know how much you give up
They have no 1st the next 2 year, only one 2nd the next three
@Tang he’s injured right now, but this move is about the playoffs which he’ll be back for. Still should be a haul.
@SKloep then it needs to be some decent prospects.
I’m curious how this trade is going to work in its dealings. Brad Marchand going to Florida seems highly bizarre to say the least. It’s surprising Boston would even trade him in their own division if this deal actually happens. It’s a wait & see on this one.
He’s a rental and likely won’t resign
Obviously he’s a rental but it’s weird Boston is trading one of their most beloved franchise players to one of their biggest rivals. If I was a Boston fan, I would be ticked off at Boston’s management helping a division rival.
I AM a Boston fan, and what does it matter? They’re obviously starting scorched earth, and not before time. Do we CARE that we’re strengthening Toronto and Florida in the short term, when we want to get out of the mushy middle?
Yes, Boston is basically going through a retool & wanting to get assets & such. You may not care but there are going to be many Boston fans who do care. Trading a franchise player to an arch rival during the season is not very becoming. Granted, Boston is giving Marchand a chance at a possible Cup.
I care that they’re trading him at all: it hurts. I’m just not going to watch any games with Florida in it for the rest of the year, because I don’t want to see him in a not-Boston jersey.
But people who care WHERE he goes, they’re idiots. We WANT to be lower in the standings than those other teams for the next two years. We want to contend for lottery picks. I don’t give a good goddamn where Toronto or Florida finish the next couple of seasons, just so long as we can lord it over them in 2027.
Dude, I understand your perspective. I do. I just don’t like Marchand going to Florida. Marchand is really just a substitute for Matthew Tkachuk who’s missing the regular season but he could potentially miss the playoffs especially if he’s dealing with a groin injury like reports say. Ironically, if it wasn’t for Tkachuk, this trade doesn’t happen actually.
No real bruins fan is gonna call other fans an idiot for disliking this trade. You probably would have been fine with the Babe Ruth trade too
You need to work on your reading comprehension, dude.
Why, is there some other definition of the word idiot that I missed?
… the one that has your name in front of it? Trolololo.
BRAD? WHAT?! THE EVIL EMPIRE?!?! WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!???????????????????????
I’m going to be sick.
“Horrible for Hagens” seems to be in play.
the problem with the Bruins getting all these draft picks is that it is the same turds that are making the picks!!!
Tkachuk, Bennett and now Marchand? Pain in the arse team to play against!
HOLY CHIT I JOKINGLY CALLED THIS YESTERDAY
Boston needed to blow things up, but they kept their 2 best players in Pasternak & McAvoy along with their young goalie too. I like the Coyle trade a lot; gets them a much younger Center with upside. Carlo should net them a 1st round pick. I’m not sure what the Marchand return will be, but this reminds me of the Ray Borque trade. They’re giving Marchand a chance to win a Cup with Florida and hopefully are receiving a nice return for him. Standing pat or adding one or two players was not going to get Boston much better or put them in position to go deep in the playoffs, so they went the opposite direction and are now on a mini-rebuild track.
Maybe a third team involved to take some money and something to help the Cats stay under cap?
If they move Tkachuk to LTIR it becomes a non-issue, i think.
… They only received a 2nd rounder for Marchand?? No players or prospects in the deal? Am I reading that right?!?
Yea? Well, you know, that’s just like, uh, your opinion, man.
Ew. Send him back.
They’re not getting much for Marchand. A 2nd round pick that could potentially upgrade to a 1st round pick. I thought there would be more assets but apparently not, surprisingly.
Marchand is basically filling in Tkachuk’s role. Matthew Tkachuk isn’t returning for the rest of the regular season & could potentially miss the playoffs pending on the injury’s recovery which if it’s a groin injury like reported then it’s 50/50 as groin injuries take months to heal. A month & a half isn’t going to heal that injury.
They traded Todd Angilly too!
If you think this is an any way a fair or solid return for a franchise icon who can still play…we got the same return for Anthony Beauvillier.
*Now that I see the conditions, this could become a first pretty easily. I suspect it will.
Yeah, I would assume they have to be huge favorites to come out of the East, let alone making the ECF.
I do like their odds, but I now love (hate) the Caps odds.
NJ and CAR weakened. If WSH can survive OTT or whoever, they have a glide path the ECF.
Now the fans of only 30 teams will hate him.
That’s all they could get for Marchand? Hard to fathom.
He’s not washed, but he’s soaking.
Hey Canada! The cup runs through Florida…..AGAIN
It might make a detour back to Colorado, though.
Tough one to swallow. But Florida fans, now you’ll understand.
He loves the run to the championship, Bennett wants way too much, so Marchand re-signs this summer to be the 3C and goodbye Bennett.
Marchand isn’t a C.
Marchand will resign in Boston in the summertime, And the Bruins will finish out of the playoffs in the 25/26 season, Sweeney, And Neely have no plan, Or direction going forward with this club.
Statistically there’s a 50/50 chance he resigns with Bruins, although there is only 5 percent chance of that.
Jagr, Thornton, Marchand.. guys love going to Sunrise near the end lol..
You forgot some…. Ed Belfour, Igor Larionov, Joe Nieuwendyk, Dino Ciccarelli… also Jagr spent like 3-4 years on the Panthers wasn’t a cameo
The Bruins simply rented out Marchand for a couple of months in return for a 2nd round pick, There’s no doubt he’ll return to the Bruins in July.
Well … we’ll see. The Boston press has reported that the Bruins offered him a three-year extension to keep him onboard, with a no-trade. Marchand reportedly didn’t like the money and turned them down.
When we talk about the collection of agitators for Florida, We can’t forget about Mikkola, And Greer. The Panthers will be so fun to watch in the playoffs, After yesterday, The only teams with a legitimate chance at the hardware is of course, The Cats, Vegas, Dallas, And Colorado.
What should we call this new Bennett – Tkachuk – Marchand line? Slapshot? lol