Ahead of Panthers-Bruins, Brad Marchand opens up about emotional return to Boston
Brad Marchand isn’t looking for closure. Not entirely.
The veteran winger is trying to balance everything that’s going to come with Tuesday, and it’s not an easy task. How can it be with everything that’s going to surround that day?
For the first time since being traded to the Florida Panthers in March, a blockbuster move that helped pave the way for Florida to win its second consecutive Stanley Cup, Marchand is set to face the Boston Bruins, the only team he called home for the first 15-and-a-half years of his NHL career.
Marchand, 37, would love nothing more than for the day to be as normal as possible.
But who is he kidding? He knows it’s going to an emotional night, and he’s embracing that just as much as he has embraced the next chapter of his career with the Panthers.
“I’m definitely looking forward to it,” Marchand told the Miami Herald ahead of their five-game road trip that is ending with the Bruins game (7:30 p.m., ESPN). “It’s a place that I’ve really grown to love and have a ton of relationships and friendships. I built a home there. Grew my family there. There’s a lot more than just the game going back there. Obviously the fan support with how long I played there. It’s always been very special. I’ve always taken a lot of pride in the spot that I have there. It was tough to leave. There’s going to be some emotions going back. ... I think it’ll always be weird playing there moving forward. It’ll always be different, but it’s exciting. It’s an exciting building to play in. It’s a hard building to play in. I’m looking forward to it. It’s one that I’ll cherish, and my family will cherish.”
While it’s his first official game back in Boston, it’s not Marchand’s first time back there with Florida.
The Panthers played the Bruins at TD Garden on March 11 last season, four days after the trade was completed.
But Marchand didn’t suit up for that contest. He was dealing with an upper-body injury that he sustained about a week earlier.
“I was actually really happy that I was hurt at that time and didn’t play in that game,” Marchand said. “That would have been tough. There’s a lot going on at that time.”
It was a short amount of time for Marchand to process a big career adjustment. He thought he would spend his entire career with the Bruins. For so long, that appeared to be the case.
After all, Marchand certainly left his mark on Boston.
He played in 1,090 NHL regular-season games (plus another 157 in the playoffs) and racked up 976 career points (plus another 138 in the postseason) with the Bruins. He won a Stanley Cup there as a rookie in 2011 and made it to the Cup Final two other times, losing in 2013 and 2019. He built his reputation as an agitating, scrappy forward who knows how to get under the opponent’s skin while also producing on the scoresheet. He was named captain ahead of the 2023-24 season, succeeding Patrice Bergeron for the role.
“There’s a lot of great memories,” Marchand said. “A lot of great moments.”
But things went sour fast last season. The Bruins were struggling on the ice and Marchand was in the final year of his contract. Negotiations were at a standstill. An extension seemed unlikely.
So the Bruins dealt Marchand to the Panthers — the “only team that I wanted to go to if I was going to be traded,” Marchand said — for a Florida first-round pick.
It was a bittersweet moment for Marchand, but in the end one he felt was right at this juncture of his career.
“Was it hard to leave? It was, for sure,” Marchand said, “but I knew I was coming to an incredible situation.”
That incredible situation set him up for instant success. He thrived on Florida’s third line with Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen. He immediately meshed in the dressing room with new teammates who were basically enemies prior to the trade. He had rubber rats flung at him after wins. He took teammates to Dairy Queen during the postseason.
And, in the end, he won his second Stanley Cup.
But the end was merely just the beginning.
Despite his doubts about it being possible, Marchand signed a six-year contract extension with the Panthers in the offseason, keeping him with his new team through the 2030-31 season — he’ll be 43 when that deal ends.
“I’m so thankful for the way that everything played out,” said Marchand, who enters Tuesday leading the Panthers in goals (three) and points (six). “It was for the best, for them and for me. It allowed them to kind of move on and start a new team and new opportunity for them, and a phenomenal opportunity for myself — not just last year, but for the next six years. A great new experience for my family being down here. There are a lot of great things that came out of it. Obviously, you don’t always see that at the time, but it’s what you make it, and we’re making it an incredible and exciting opportunity. That’s how I see it.”
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