Marchand traded to Panthers by Bruins for draft pick

Brad Marchand was traded to the Florida Panthers by the Boston Bruins on Friday.

Boston received a conditional second-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft in return.

The 36-year-old forward is in the final season of an eight-year, $49 million contract ($6.125 million average annual value) he signed with the Bruins on Sept. 26, 2016, and can become an unrestricted free agent after the season. Boston will retain 50 percent of Marchand's salary.

Marchand, who was in his second season as captain of the Bruins, has 47 points (21 goals, 26 points) in 61 games this season. He is currently week to week with an upper-body injury sustained in a 3-2 Bruins win at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.

"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," Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said.

"We just had a gap, deep down in talking, really from Day 2 of free agency (last season) in terms of what his intentions were, where we were at, we always had a bit of term gap, it took us a while. I felt that we were able to bridge that, but again, 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.

"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."

The conditional second-round draft pick will become a 2027 or 2028 first-round draft pick if Florida wins two rounds of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs and Marchand appears in at least 50 percent of the team's playoff games.

"I haven't even spoken to him yet, we just did the trade call. His record speaks for itself," Panthers general manager Bill Zito said. "We’re thrilled to have him aboard. We'll see where it goes. He's injured, we think it's a couple of weeks. We'll get our doctors on it. We've had some conversations about it, so we're comfortable acquiring him and we're excited about buckling down and moving forward to focus on being the best team we can be, to go as far as we can go. We're thrilled."

Marchand, who was the longest-tenured player on the team, is in his 16th season. He is fourth in games (1,090) and goals (422), fifth in points (976) and sixth in assists (554) in Bruins history.

He is a 14-time 20-goal scorer, including in each of the past 12 seasons, and has made the NHL All-Star Team four times (2016-17, 2020-21 first team; 2018-19, 2019-20 second team).

Marchand has 138 points in the Stanley Cup Playoffs (second), 56 goals (first), 82 assists (third) in 157 games (fourth). He won the Cup with the Bruins in 2011.

The Panthers, who won the Stanley Cup last season, are 39-21-3 and lead the Atlantic Division, two points ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs. They defeated Marchand and the Bruins each of the past two seasons in the playoffs, in seven games in the first round in 2023 and in six games in the second round in 2024.

Marchand and Panthers forward Sam Bennett are now teammates after they both won gold with Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off last month.

In Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Second Round last season, a controversial hit by Bennett on Marchand caused Marchand to miss the next two games with an upper-body injury. Bennett did not receive any supplementary discipline on the play, but Marchand later said that Bennett "got away with one."

"We think he still has some gas in the tank," Zito said of Marchand. "He is a dynamic player; he's a multi-faceted whether it's his skill, his speed, his hockey sense, his will-to-win, his compete. … Really looking forward to adding him to our mix. I think he fits in."

Boston (28-28-8) is three points behind the Ottawa Senators for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

On Friday, the Bruins also made several other trades; forward Charlie Coyle was dealt to the Colorado Avalanche along with forward prospect William Zellers and a second-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft for forward Casey Mittelstadt and a fifth-round pick in the 2026 draft; a 4th-round pick in the 2026 draft was sent to the Buffalo Sabres for defenseman Henri Jokiharju; defenseman Brandon Carlo was traded to the Maple Leafs for forward prospect Fraser Minten, a fourth-round pick in the 2025 draft and a conditional first-round pick in the 2026 draft.

Florida visits Boston on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; SCRIPPS, NESN, SN, TVAS).

"A player like this, when they come available, and you have that need and a fit with your group, you pursue it," Zito said. "We're thrilled."