The Boston Bruins made the difficult decision to move captain Brad Marchand to a division rival at the NHL trade deadline.
Bruins general manager Don Sweeney admitted there was “a term gap” in negotiations between the front office and Marchand’s camp for an extension, and had to make the best decision for the team.
“That one goes back a long ways for me and cuts deeper than really any other player that I’ve had the privilege of getting to know and watch thrive and become a Hall of Famer, and one of the greatest Bruins ever,” Sweeney told reporters at Warrior Ice Arena on Friday. “So, a difficult day from that standpoint personally and professionally.
“Just had a gap. Deep down we had been talking really from day two of free agency in terms of what his intentions were and where we were at. And we always had a bit of term gap that took us a while and felt that we had been able to bridge that.”
Sweeney added he always respects what a player “thinks is best for him and his family,” and what they think their “market value is.”
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“Then we had to make a really, really difficult decision to say, ‘Let’s give Brad another opportunity with a really good team,’” Sweeney said. “Then he can make his decision as to what he thinks is best going forward.”
The Bruins received just one conditional draft pick in exchange for Marchand. 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% of the team’s playoff games. Boston will retain 50 percent of Marchand’s salary.
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Sweeney added that Marchand is expected to be out three to four weeks with the upper-body injury he sustained during the Bruins’ March 1 game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Marchand will certainly miss the Bruins-Panthers game Tuesday night at TD Garden.
Marchand became the 27th captain in franchise history after Patrice Bergeron retired following the 2022-23 historic season. Sweeney acknowledged, no one will wear the “C” to the left of the Spoked-B for the remainder of the season.
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Featured image via James Guillory/Imagn Images
