But Marchand plays for the enemy now, and he’s been busy proving himself one of the best trade deadline acquisitions of all time. As he helps the dreaded Florida Panthers play for a second consecutive championship with his timely goals and timeless leadership, Marchand, two wins away from hoisting the Cup after Florida’s Game 4 loss Thursday night tied the series at 2-2, spends seemingly every night reminding the Bruins of what they gave up.
And no doubt making them wonder if they should pony up the money to bring him back. Emotionally, it’s a no-brainer. Marchand is beloved in Boston, a Stanley Cup winner in his first full pro season, a former captain, BFF to Patrice Bergeron, a direct link to better, more competitive times, a fixture among all-time franchise leaders in everything from games played to goals scored to penalty minutes logged. Whenever and however this Stanley Cup Final ends, Marchand will be on target to be an unrestricted free agent July 1. With a new, lucrative contract on his mind, the Bruins might well be among his suitors.
Unless they’re not, a real possibility given the sides’ inability to agree to an extension during the regular season. And when rational heads take over, there are as many cogent arguments to keep the chapter on Marchand closed for good, to celebrate from afar as he plays out the final years of an extraordinary career elsewhere, and then invite him back for an inevitable jersey retirement ceremony in Boston.
While the Bruins begin this next franchise phase under new coach Marco Sturm, they would be wiser to follow the plan Sturm laid out during his introductory news conference Tuesday, the one that involves honoring the ethos of players past but not leaning on it.
“We’ve got to reestablish the whole thing, because these guys are not here anymore,” Sturm said. “So now it’s going to be up to us and the new group to lead this group to a new era.”
Of course it’s tough to watch Marchand during this postseason rebirth and not be tempted by his impressive stats going into Thursday’s game: eight playoff goals (fifth among all players), 18 postseason points (seventh), and plus-minus of plus-15 (second). Marchand is the oldest player in Cup Final history to score in the first three games of the series. Seriously, what more could he do to prove there is gas left in his 37-year-old tank?
Among those eight goals are the double-overtime winner in Game 2, followed by one 56 seconds into Game 3, back-to-back scores that made him the first player in NHL history to score an overtime goal in one game and an opening-minute goal in the following one in a Cup Final. More importantly, however, is how they helped the Panthers take control of the series after dropping Game 1 in overtime, with that early Game 3 goal opening the floodgates to a 6-1 blowout.
Quite the impact from a deadline trade that saw Florida surrender only a conditional 2027 second-round pick (which has since become a first-rounder with the Panthers making at least Round 3 of the playoffs).
“He’s an exceptional man,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice told reporters over the weekend. “I’ve really enjoyed having him.”
Sturm would likely enjoy it, too. But the reality of the Bruins’ roster is nothing like the one Marchand is on in Florida, where depth reigns so supreme that a man with first-line talent has become a third-line force. Alongside the likes of Sam Bennett, Matthew Tkachuk, Carter Verhaeghe, Aleksander Barkov et al, Marchand is the cherry on the sundae. He puts the Panthers over the top. Back with the Bruins, he would be expected to shoulder the load, be the same player who was left wing on a top line, was first out on the power play, was first out on the penalty kill, all while setting the locker-room vibe. Seems wiser now to let younger players take those roles.
Wiser now to watch Marchand earn the spoils of his contributions in Florida, where he has fit in seamlessly inside a locker room that tormented his former team out of the playoffs the last two years.
“I may never get back this late in the playoffs ever again in my career,” Marchand said during this playoff run. “To be one of the last teams standing and being part of a great group of guys, these are memories that I want to remember and enjoy.”
Tara Sullivan is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at tara.sullivan@globe.com. Follow her @Globe_Tara.
