Panthers' Brad Marchand Gets Emotional in Return to Boston

Rewind the clock a little bit to last year's trade deadline. The Boston Bruins were not in the playoff picture and were not going to be at season's end, so they decided to sell. The Florida Panthers were coming off of a recent Stanley Cup championship and were looking to go back-to-back.

The Bruins front office was trying to figure out what to do with Brad Marchand. Marchand had been in Boston his whole entire career, but wanted to chase one more Stanley Cup ring since he was not going to get that in Boston.

He told the Bruins front office and general manager Don Sweeney that he wanted to be traded and wanted to be traded to one team only, the Florida Panthers. Marchand got his wish and competed for the Stanley Cup and won it all with the Panthers as the Panthers won back-to-back Stanley Cups.

Fast forward to now, everyone knew that the Panthers visiting the Bruins early in the 2025-26 season was going to be an emotional one as it was Marchand's first game back in Boston as a member of the Panthers. Marchand was seen skating by the Panthers bench, being honored after a commercial break, in tears.

Brad Marchand couldn't hold back the tears as he receives a WARM welcome back to Boston 🥹👏 pic.twitter.com/hQtQM2TKfx
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) October 22, 2025

Marchand gave his heart and soul to the Boston Bruins. He played there for 16 seasons, tallying 452 goals and 554 assists as a member of the Bruins. He also won the Stanley Cup with the Bruins in the 2010-11 season by defeating the Vancouver Canucks in 7 games.

The Bruins did right by Marchand

The Bruins and their fans pondered the decision to try to re-sign Marchand at the end of the 2024-25 season as his contract was set to expire or let him walk in free agency. Marchand had been that staple for the Bruins all his career.

Ultimately, the Bruins decided to do the right thing and honor his trade request, send him to the Panthers, and let him go after one more cup. After winning the cup, Marchand re-signed with the Panthers for six years with an AAV of 5.25 million dollars. Marchand had wanted to stay so this made a ton of sense.

Seeing Marchand, s franchise cornerstone for 16 years, in another jersey, and then seeing him win the cup with somebody else had to be tough for Bruins fans. But the Bruins absolutely did the right thing by trading him and then giving him a really nice tribute and welcome home.

Everybody won in this scenario as the Bruins got to welcome home their former legend and Marchand got to win the Stanley Cup again. It was a win win for both sides.

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