Panthers send message with Trade Deadline acquisitions

The Florida Panthers are not satisfied with winning the Stanley Cup once. Or with two consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Final.

Their actions leading up to the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline, including the big splash of acquiring forward Brad Marchand from the Boston Bruins in a buzzer-beating deal on Friday, made that abundantly clear.

Some wondered what the loss of forward Matthew Tkachuk, who is out for an "extended period of time" after sustaining a lower-body injury while playing for the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off last month, would do to the Panthers’ repeat chances.

With Tkachuk likely on long-term injured reserve for the remainder of the regular season, Florida strengthened its defense by acquiring Seth Jones from the Chicago Blackhawks on March 1. By following that up with the addition of Marchand, the Panthers are signaling that they are again the team to beat in the Eastern Conference.

To land Marchand, who is out week to week with an upper-body injury, Florida gave up a conditional second-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft. Boston retained 50 percent of Marchand’s salary, which holds an average annual value of $6.125 million (final season of eight-year contract).

Even with questions about when Marchand will be ready to return, the Panthers thought the trade was worth the risk.

“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.”

The conditional second-round pick from the trade will become a first-round pick in the 2027 or 2028 NHL Draft if the Panthers win at least two rounds in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and Marchand appears in at least 50 percent of their postseason games. If it ends up being a first-round pick, having another chance to reach the Cup Final will mean Florida will have gotten full value in the trade.

The Panthers know firsthand what Marchand can bring in the playoffs, having faced him and the Bruins on their road to the Cup Final in each of the past two seasons.

In fact, Marchand sustained an upper-body injury last season on a hit by Panthers forward Sam Bennett, causing him to miss Games 4 and 5 of their Eastern Conference Second Round series. Bennett and Marchand smoothed things over when they played together for Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Now, they’ll combine forces to try to keep the Stanley Cup in South Florida.

“He might be a top guy, too,” Zito said. “If you watched the 4 Nations, he was pretty effective. We think he still has some gas in the tank. He is a dynamic player. He’s multifaceted, 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.”

Imagine combining Marchand's particular combination of feistiness and skill with that of Bennett and Tkachuk, who Zito hopes will be back for the playoffs. That's on top of Florida's already playoff-proven group of forwards, which includes captain Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe, Anton Lundell and Evan Rodrigues.

Adding Marchand, who has plenty left at 36 years old, makes them even more formidable.

Marchand had 47 points (21 goals, 26 assists) in 61 games with Boston this season. A Stanley Cup champion with the Bruins in 2011, Marchand has 138 points (56 goals, 82 assists) in 157 career playoff games.

“I think he fits in,” Zito said. “We have lots of guys that can move around even within a game, so it will be fun to see how it all sorts out and where different players end up ultimately, and I suspect we’ll see different schemes.”

The Panthers were on a mission to win the Cup last season after losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games in the Final in 2023. And acquiring forwards Vladimir Tarasenko and Kyle Okposo, each a rental player on an expiring contract, before the trade deadline helped them to get over that hump and defeat the Edmonton Oilers in seven games in the Final.

Florida has had a similar focus since the start of this season. Although the Panthers (39-21-3) have had some ups and downs, they are leading the Atlantic Division again and look primed for another deep postseason run.

Despite that, the Panthers further solidified their depth by acquiring forward Nico Sturm (Thursday) and goalie Vitek Vanecek (Wednesday) in separate trades with the San Jose Sharks, as well as goalie Kaapo Kahkonen from the Winnipeg Jets (Thursday). But Marchand and Jones, who has five seasons remaining on an eight-year, $76 million contract ($9.5 million AAV), have the potential to be difference-makers.

“A player like [Marchand], a player like Seth, too, when these players become available and you have that need or that fit with your group, you pursue it in my mind,” Zito said. “And we’re thrilled.”

NHL.com independent correspondent George Richards contributed to this report