“It would have been incredible to be in Boston, be in one place my entire career,” Marchand said. But times change, and with that he'll now chase the Stanley Cup from Florida, which plays at Boston on Tuesday.
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Brad Marchand is officially a Panther, ditching his familiar Black-and-Gold garb for his first meeting with reporters in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. There he stood Monday morning, joking about the upside of the new red quarter zip he wore instead.
“It brings out my eyes,” he said.
Never one to pass up the chance for a laugh, Marchand had a much harder time addressing what it’s done to his heart.
Or ours.
In a literal sense, Marchand’s departure represents the end of an era, officially the roster’s final link to the last Stanley Cup win in 2011. Marchand leaves just as much in his metaphorical wake, blazing a trail across 16 Bruins seasons that won’t ever be duplicated.
Or forgotten.
It was one hell of a rollicking adventure, a no-hands-on-the-wheel, helmet-off joyride that took us from the depths of head-scratching frustration to the heights of thrill-seeking celebration, like throwing your arms to the skies from the front seat of the roller coaster. If the wing never quite ascended to the franchise-defining stature of his teammates at top-line center (Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci), defense (Zdedo Chara), or goaltender (Tuukka Rask), he was the perfect sidecar to their brand identity, an everyman whose small stature barely contained the raging competitive fires within.
He became a part of Boston’s fabric, declaring as much in his farewell
message to fans, revealing it during his Q&A down south. Did you catch the slip Marchand made as he talked about the immediate vibe shift he felt being around a group deep in pre-playoff intensity, about the rejuvenation he said it brought out in him, about the respect he has for what the defending Cup champion Panthers have built across the past few seasons?
“They’ve bounced us the last couple years in the playoffs — well they bounced the Bruins the last couple years,” Marchand said, self-correcting.
“It would have been incredible to be in Boston, be in one place my entire career,” he said, “but I’ve always had the attitude that you need to be grateful for every opportunity. The gratitude piece does not get lost on me, to be able to play in this league. When the trade happened I was disappointed and I was sad but I’m still extremely grateful I got to come to an incredible place, an incredible team, a very, very, very competitive team. That’s what you want. Ultimately we chase the Stanley Cup. You want a chance to play for that every single year.”
For the bulk of Marchand’s 16 seasons, the Bruins did just that. They competed. It all went bad this season, forcing general manager Don Sweeney and team president Cam Neely to pay the price for years of bad drafts and failed free agent signings.
But when it was good, it was glorious, with Marchand in the mix of it all. A scintillating playoff performance in his first full season, 11 goals and eight assists on the way to
beating the Canucks for the 2011 Cup. And when it was hard, it was heartbreaking, with Marchand in the mix of it all. A devastating
Game 7 loss at home to the Blues in the 2019 Cup Final, a game in which Marchand’s early exit on a line change led to a backbreaking goal in the first period’s final seconds.
But compelling? Always.
Marchand did it all. He is who he is, and even as he joins a locker room already led by strong personalities in Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett, he isn’t planning on turtling anytime soon.
“I’m not coming in to step on toes, but I’m also not going to change who I am,” he said. “I have an outgoing personality. When I get in the room or on the ice, my competitiveness takes over. I get a little emotional at times.”
In the Hollywood script of this story, Marchand’s already inspiring journey from instigator-in-chief to respected team captain would be capped by a triumphant return home. While he will be with
the Panthers when they visit TD Garden Tuesday night, he won’t be on the ice, shelved instead by an upper-body injury that could keep him out for a few more weeks. Such is the reminder that he is 36 years old, in the last year of the one big contract he already earned (eight years, $49 million), and well aware he is so much closer to his career finish line that he is from the start.
“You never know how long you have in this league, never know when your last day is going to be, and you want to make the most of it,” he said. “So, yeah, it would have been great to be able to stay and play out my career there, but this is an incredible opportunity.”
So he’ll make that familiar walk into the building, take the unfamiliar turn to the visiting locker room, find the former Bruins teammates who were on the road when the trade went down, share some hugs, and more than likely, shed some tears, just like the ones he had to choke back Monday.
“It’ll be nice to see the guys and kind of say goodbye,” he said. “It’s great to go home. It’ll be very weird to be there as part of an opposing team. It’s nice but it’ll be sad too.”
The end of an era.
