NHL News: Brad Marchand Reportedly Traded to Panthers from Bruins at 2025 Deadline

The era of the 2011 Stanley Cup-winning Boston Bruins is reportedly over.

The Bruins parted ways with the last remaining member of that championship team by reportedly trading team captain Brad Marchand to the Florida Panthers just ahead of Friday's deadline.

Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman first reported the news, which was seconded by TSN's Pierre LeBrun.

Bruins general manager Don Sweeney later told reporters the Bruins will receive a conditional second-round pick as part of the trade. The pick becomes a first rounder if Marchand plays 25 percent of games in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

ESPN's Emily Kaplan reported that Marchand "wanted to stay in Boston" but had reached a "stalemate" with the Bruins over an extension to his expiring contract.

Kaplan wrote the Bruins were "hesitant" to offer Marchand, who turns 37 in May, more than two years on his next deal.

Marchand, who is currently week-to-week with an upper-body injury, had 21 goals and 26 assists in 61 games at the time of the trade. He is playing in the final year of his $6.125 million AAV deal.

Named team captain ahead of the 2023-24 season, Marchand played a key role on the most successful Bruins teams in modern history, including the 2011 Cup team, the 2019 Cup Final squad and the record-breaking 2023 Presidents' Trophy roster.

After the Bruins' struggles early in the 2024-25 season left the team on the outside of the playoff bubble looking in at the trade deadline, they decided to trade their longest-tenured forward rather than risk losing him for nothing in free agency.

The Bruins are one of at least five teams vying for two Eastern Conference wild-card spots, a disappointing result for a team that took big swings this offseason by signing free agents Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov and extending Jeremy Swayman.

The Bruins went on to struggle out of the gate, and the November firing of former head coach Jim Montgomery failed to spark a resurgence as injuries thinned the roster. Instead of focusing on challenging Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers for the top spots in the East, the Bruins may now be looking at rebuilding for a stronger 2025-26.

Selected by the Bruins in the third round of the 2006 draft, Marchand helped lead the franchise to the Cup in his rookie 2010-11 season. He leaves the Bruins having recorded 422 goals and 554 assists for 976 points in 1,090 regular-season games while adding 138 points in 157 playoff games.

Marchand leads all Bruins players with 36 career short-handed goals, trails only Johnny Bucyk for the all-time franchise lead with 302 even-strength goals and ranks fourth in franchise history with 1,113 penalty minutes.

When he returns from injury, Marchand will look for a chance to win his second career Stanley Cup with the reigning champs this spring.

The Panthers placed Matthew Tkachuk on LTIR after ruling him out for the rest of the regular season. The move helped give Florida the salary cap flexibility to acquire Marchand.

Panthers general manager Bill Zito said Monday the Panthers hoped to see Tkachuk return by the playoffs.

The Cats won the 2024 Stanley Cup in part thanks to the physicality of Tkachuk and Bennett. When Marchand and Tkachuk are healthy, the Panthers could conceivably place all three on the second line behind Carter Verhaeghe, Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart.

That would give the Panthers one of the deepest top six lineups in the East and solidify their position as a favorites to defend the title.