Brad Marchand takes advantage of a “special” moment with the final return of the Stanley Cup – while his stock of free agent is soaring

Athletics has live coverage of panthers against Oilers Game 1 from the Stanley 2025 Cup final.

Edmonton – There are many hockey leaders dispersed in North America who are currently watching their lists and prepare ways to improve.

While the Stanley Cup final will start on Wednesday, they will watch from afar while the EDMONTON Oilers and the Florida Panthers will fight again for a championship. And many will undoubtedly have their eyes trained on No. 63 in White, Brad Marchand, who is now less than four weeks old to potentially stop on the free market for the first time in his NHL career.

To say that the 37 -year -old man has strengthened his market value from this qualifying series is an understatement. As older Panther and the most recent Panther, Marchand was undoubtedly among the most effective artists of the team during his third race consecutive to the final this spring.

“There are no secrets about what he is as a player, as a competitor,” said Florida Director Bill Zito about Marchand. “Getting to know him a little more (as a human, he is more special than I could have imagined on this forehead. As a teammate and as a human character. From this point of view, it’s like ice on the cake.”

This is what must make the prospect of continuing merchant in a free agency so attractive.

The proof of concept looks at everyone directly opposite.

If a team is looking for a set of culture or a great match interpreter who can modify the composition of his DNA, Marchand stands out. He played more than 210 minutes equal during these qualifying series and was only on ice for five goals against. He is one of the leaders of the panthers with 14 points, which includes a goal in overtime 2 against the Maple Leafs of Toronto. Its line with Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen is officially listed as the third in Florida, but it was undoubtedly the best.

And all his teammates of the panthers are raging on the guy.

“The only thing that really stands out is just its natural leadership,” said Sam Bennett. “He doesn’t even need to try, and he’s just a natural leader that guys admire.”

Taking the change of disturbed from Boston, as the Panthers did with a trade on March 7 which will probably take place as the most important fact on the deadline of this year, has not taken any efficiency of the merchant game.

In fact, it probably only strengthens its reputation.

Several league sources said they thought that merchant will cost up to $ 8 million on his next contract, which means that he is online for a good increase out of the $ 6.125 million he had won over the eight -year extension he signed with Bruins in 2016.

Do not be surprised if his next contract also takes place beyond his 40th anniversary.

It is not a real coincidence that the best hockey of the merchant season came during these playoffs – not after spending three months recovering elbow, groin and abdomen surgeries last summer. This let him catch up with a catch -up during a season in which he finished with 51 points – his lowest total since 2014-2015 – and aggravated the pressure he felt during negotiations on a contract that would have made him a lifetime.

“It was stressful in many ways, just because some of them were situations in which I had really not been before,” said Marchand. “I wouldn’t say that I treated them well. Yeah, the commercial side of this one, I let myself be frustrated and then obviously, our team (in Boston) did not have the success we expected.

“We were struggling to put it back on the right track, then we finally did it, and we thought that we came back to the playoff position, then we sort of collapsed. There were different obstacles that continued to become frustrating and were stressful throughout the year.”

Marchand could not have asked for a better landing place than Florida, where he joined the team he considered better equipped to emerge from the Eastern Conference. The trade for a first round choice in 2027 or 2028 only materialized after the Bruins captain used his partial clause for the first time without exchange to block another move offered to a team based at the Western Conference.

It’s hard to believe now, but Marchand felt worried about how things would go with his new club.

He was injured when the trade was completed, and his only thought by returning to health was that he hoped that coach Paul Maurice released him among the 12 attackers once he was ready.

“When you look at the programming, I said to myself honestly:” I think I play the fourth line again. Back in my roots, “said Marchand. “I didn’t have much expectations. I knew that playing against the panthers this year that they were the team I felt in the East was the team that was going to race. So I was just excited to be part of it. I didn’t know where I was going to play or what I was going to do. ”

It turns out that he is perfectly part of a group that goes up on the SoC and likes to play on the face of his opponent.

Marchand was also welcomed on the ice. This helped that he played with Bennett and Sam Reinhart while representing Canada during the confrontation of the 4 February nations and has the kind of personality that makes his presence known quickly in each room.

“He was just a great guy (in the 4 nations),” said Bennett. “I really liked it. I was surprised to see how much I loved it with all the battles that we had against each other (before that). ”

Although an extended stay in Florida cannot be excluded for merchant, more lucrative offers will probably come from July 1. Panthers also have major free agent decisions waiting with Bennett and Aaron Ekblad this summer.

Marchand thinks she has an open mind when the time comes to consider his options, which should be considered a sign full of hope for anyone with an available cap space and a desire to use it.

In the here and now, he is full of gratitude. He won a Stanley Cup in 2011 at the end of his first full season of the NHL with the Bruins and lost in the final with them in 2013 and 2019.

“You look at your 15, 16, 17 years of age, and you really had an opportunity to do so,” said Marchand. “It makes it quite special to be here.”

(Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)