The final day of the trade period in the 2024-25 NHL season marked the end of an era. After 16 seasons, star Brad Marchand leaves the Boston Bruins to play for the Florida Panthers. General Manager Don Sweeney did not remain silent and sent out a deeply sincere statement regarding the shocking trade.
Marchand’s move to the Panthers is a surprising last-minute deal. The four-time All-Star was the franchise player for Boston, the team he played for his entire NHL career. He was a historic face of the team, yet there are stories that see his end coming at a moment’s notice.
Boston will maintain 50 percent of Marchand’s salary. The 36-year-old forward is in the last season of an eight-year, $49 million contract he signed with the Bruins on 2016, and can become an unrestricted free agent after the conclusion of the season.
Marchand had previously cautioned against changing teams, especially considering the Bruins’ position in the division, far from the playoffs. The 36-year-old veteran will get his chance to go deep in the postseason with last season’s champion team. GM Sweeney also understands that it was time to say goodbye.
Don Sweeney, the general manager of the Boston Bruins
Don Sweeney’s honest admission on Marchand’s trade to Panthers
“That’s the decision that was made and we had to make a really, really difficult decision to say ‘Let’s give Brad another opportunity with a really good team,’ and then he can make a decision on what he thinks is best moving forward. We had been talking really from day two of free agency in terms of what his intentions were and where we were at. We always had a bit of a term gap,” Bruins general manager Sweeney admitted of Marchand’s trade to the Panthers, according to NHL.com.
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“That one goes back a long way for me and cuts deeper than any player I’ve gotten the privilege to know and watch thrive and become a Hall of Famer and one of the greatest Bruins ever. A player is more than entitled to have an understanding of what their market value is, and do what’s best for them. I have to always respect that,” he said.
What did the Bruins receive in exchange for sending Marchand to Florida?
In exchange for Marchand to the Panthers, Boston received a conditional second-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft. The terms may vary depending on the Panthers’ postseason performance. If Florida wins two rounds of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs with Marchand playing in half of those games, the conditional second-round draft pick will become a first-round selection in the 2027 or 2028 draft.
