Bruins captain Brad Marchand traded to Florida Panthers in flurry of deadline deals

BOSTON — The last holdover of the Boston Bruins’ 2011 Cup-winning team has exited the building.

Longtime fan favorite and Bruins captain Brad Marchand has been traded to the Florida Panthers, capping off an NHL trade deadline week filled with a flurry of moves for Boston.

The trade will send the 36-year-old winger to the team that knocked Boston out of the playoffs the last two seasons. The Bruins will receive a conditional 2027 2nd round pick from Florida that could become a 2028 first-rounder, according to ESPN’s John Buccigross.

A 2nd in 27 that turns into a first in 2028 if conditions are met. https://t.co/xGWlvngPDn
— BucciOT.Com (@Buccigross) March 7, 2025

Marchand is in the final year of the eight-year, $49 million contract he signed in 2016.

Drafted 71st overall by Boston in 2006, Marchand tallied 422 goals and 554 assists across 1090 career games in Boston. Marchand was a fan favorite and staple of Bruins hockey over the last 15 years. He was a core piece of a team that won three Presidents’ Trophies (2014, 2020, 2023), five division titles (2011, 2012, 2014, 2020, and 2023), and appeared in the Stanley Cup Final three times. (2011, 2013, 2019).

A two-time All-Star, Marchand’s best statistical season came in his 100-point 2018-19 campaign. Marchand was a vocal inside Boston’s locker room long before he officially inherited the yellow “C” captain’s patch after Patrice Bergeron’s retirement in 2023.

The Bruins’ General Manager Don Sweeney spoke at Warrior Ice Arena Friday night.

“We weren’t just going to roll it back,” said Sweeney. “It’s a difficult day from that standpoint, personally and professionally. It’s making some very difficult decisions.”

He also spoke on the split between the organization and captain Brad Marchand.

“We’ve been trying to sign Brad all year long; we just had a gap there,” said Sweeney. “He’s beloved here. I would never close the door.”

Sweeney explained that ownership and management were unclear how the deadline day would pan out when it began.

He continued, “Those are tremendous players. They’ve been tremendous Bruins, and now it’s, ‘Well, we’ve got another wave we need to find’... Now we have to do a better job of building around it, and charting a course that says, ‘We’re back.’ That’s the job.”

In a separate deal, the Bruins are also reportedly sending defenseman Brandon Carlo to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Brandon Carlo to Toronto
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 7, 2025

Hours earlier, veteran Charlie Coyle was reportedly dealt to the Colorado Avalanche. The Bruins also traded winger Justin Brazeau to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday and forward Trent Frederic to the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.

The rash of deadline deals comes as the Bruins sit three points out of the Eastern Conference’s final Playoff spot.

The Bruins will host the Florida Panthers on Tuesday but Marchand may not take the ice with his new team. The 36-year-old winger sustained an upper-body injury during their March 1 game against and is classified as week-to-week.

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