Insider Not Certain Bruins' Brad Marchand Stays

The Boston Bruins are struggling this season and Brad Marchand is in the final year of his deal, sparking a real possibility for a trade.

Dec 14, 2024; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand (63) skates against the Vancouver Canucks during the third period at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images / Bob Frid-Imagn Images

The Boston Bruins have had a rough ride up to this point of the 2024-25 season, and the path ahead doesn’t seem any smoother. With a 25-22-6 record, the Bruins are currently out of a playoff spot, and it won’t be easy for them to crawl back into wild card positioning.

Captain Brad Marchand didn’t have a normal offseason, heading into Bruins training camp fresh off of three different surgeries. Marchand is in the final year of his contract, however, and is eligible to sign an extension. Prior to the season, reports noted that Marchand was ready to sign one, but he turned down that news and is still without a deal following the 2024-25 campaign.

With the struggles mounting and their captain in the final year of his contract, the Bruins may have a tough decision to make with Marchand. Elliotte Friedman on the 32 Thoughts Podcast says that if the Bruins find themselves slipping further out of the playoff race, there may not be much time left for Marchand in Boston.

“If Boston takes on water, I’m really going to be curious to see where this goes,” Friedman said. “Because there was a time this year where I didn’t think there was a chance that Marchand was going to be out, and now I think it’s not as certain.”

Marchand has found his name occasionally popped up on trade boards throughout the season, but that was just a side effect of being a popular player in the final year of his contract. A report from the Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa noted that if the Bruins feel a trade may help the team, a Marchand trade is on the table.

The Bruins drafted Marchand in the third round of the 2006 NHL Draft (71st overall) and named him captain ahead of the 2023-24 season. Over the course of his 1,082-game career, he’s picked up 969 points (420G-549A) and helped the Bruins win the Stanley Cup in 2011.

Marchand is a staple of the Bruins organization and has been for over a decade and a half. It doesn’t seem right that they may consider trading him, but the Bruins are in a very precarious spot at this point of the season.

“I think that only becomes a thing this year if Boston falls out of the race,” Friedman said. “Right now, they’re out of the playoffs… Their math isn’t great, either. They’ve played more games than anybody else in the race.”

Every team in the Eastern Conference playoff race has games in hand on the Bruins, and they continue to fade, picking up just five wins since the start of 2025. They’re in a tough spot and may be the center of one of the biggest trades to take place during the 2024-25 season.

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