After back to back Stanley Cup Championship wins, it couldn’t possibly get better for the Florida Panthers, could it? Think again.
Super star forward Brad Marchand, who the team acquired at the trade deadline from his longtime home with the Boston Bruins, had a very short answer when reporters asked him for a message to Panthers’ general manager Bill Zito.
“Give me a contract.” Marchand said with a laugh.
Marchand made this comment outside a Dairy Queen in Sunrise, Florida where he spent the day serving Blizzards to the community. The latest story in his epic Dairy Queen saga. The 37-year-old winger also offered up a few other promising remarks about his future in the Sunshine State.
“It’s been incredible the last couple days, but I think this tops it all off,” said Marchand as quoted by the Miami Herald. “It legit brings me back to my childhood, and it’s been an incredible few days. So much love down here in Florida. There’s always been a lot of talk about it not being a hockey city, but it’s pretty evident that there’s so much love down here for the game of hockey, and it’s pretty incredible to be part of it.”
“I feel like I’m home,” Marchand concluded. “I am home, aren’t I?”
Marchand’s Three Months As A Panther
Brad Marchand, who spent 16 seasons with the Spoked B’s, was traded on March 7th of this year. The Bruins’ received a conditional second round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft and jump started their rebuild. The Panthers received an undersized forward with an oversized personality, and 20 playoff points.
Marchand missed the first three weeks after his acquisition, but played his first game on March 28th against the Utah Mammoth. He immediately registered a point, a sign of things to come.
He recorded three points in ten regular season games with his new squad, but the playoffs were a different story. In 23 playoff games, Marchand found the back of the net 10 times. He also assisted on 10 more goals, accounting for 20 total points.
In the Stanley Cup Finals, Marchand scored six goals in six games. He strung together two separate two goal games, including the game winner in Game 2 to secure the Panthers first win of the series.
Marchand was in contention for the Con Smythe trophy, awarded to the best player in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Marchand Letting Loose During Stanley Cup Celebration
Marchy has been making headlines ever since he got his paws on Lord Stanley. The first occurrence came when he took his phone around the dinner table, publicly thanking each and every organization who had a hand in assembling the Panthers roster.
When teammates noticed he had not thanked the Bruins himself, they took matters into their own hands. The teams heaviest hitters, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Niko Mikkola and Aleksander Barkov, all took to Instagram to post a story saying “Thank you @NHLBruins“.
Then there was last night when Marchand was seen crowd surfing with the Stanley Cup in hand at one of America’s most famous clubs, E11EVEN in Miami.
“As for Marchand, he once again managed to marry the euphoria of championship success with elite-level trolling: Crowd-surfing with the Stanley Cup while the DJ played a remix of “Pink Pony Club,” the Chappell Roan song that served as Edmonton’s victory celebration anthem during the postseason,” wrote ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski.
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