Brad Marchand On How His Stanley Cup Win With The Florida Panthers Compares To His First With The Boston Bruins

Forbes

17 hours ago

Florida Panthers star Brad Marchand's stock has never been higher.
The 37-year-old veteran winger was the difference-maker in the Panthers' latest Stanley Cup Finals run, posting 10 goals, 10 assists and a +17 plus-minus rating. Marchand posted three game-winning goals during the playoffs, including a series-changing goal in a Game 3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. He's eliminated the Leafs from the playoffs five times in his career, including in five Game 7's, an NHL record.
Marchand also scored the game-winning goal in double-overtime of Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Edmonton Oilers, preventing the Panthers from falling down in the series 2-0.
Not bad for a guy who was acquired by the Panthers at the trade deadline in February and was seen as the face of their most hated rival, the Boston Bruins. It's Marchand's second Stanley Cup win and his first since 2011, when he was playing out his first full season as a pro with the Bruins and just trying to cement his spot on the roster.
"Completely different feels in the sense that I was in much different parts of my life," says Marchand of how the second cup win compares to the first in a one-on-one interview. "I won my first full year in the league, and that whole year was a blur. You basically accomplish your entire life's goal, everything you've worked for, just to be in the NHL. Every day you're on edge just to try to stay there, make sure you don't do anything to get yourself kicked out of the league, or sent down, somebody take your spot, and you're just like in awe every time you step on the ice against a new team."
Marchand has previously said before he expected to continue winning Cups on a regular basis with the Bruins due to winning it so early in his career. He came close considering Boston was an annual playoff contender during Marchand's tenure there, advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals on two other occasions. However, they came up short, losing in six games to the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013 and in seven games to the St. Louis Blues in 2019.
It would take 14 more years and a complete change of scenery for Marchand to experience the Stanley Cup again, with the veteran now a husband and a father of three. In other words, Marchand is at a completely different stage of his life and he appreciates this Stanley Cup win a lot more than he did the first.
"Fast forward 14 years and now I have a wife and kids," says Marchand. "My family's getting older, and my siblings have kids, so you get to experience in a much different light, where you know I'm watching it through their eyes, and their appreciation for it. When you've been at this long, you realize how hard it is and how many things need to go right to win one. We've experienced a few pretty tough defeats in that time period, and my kids have felt that."
The 16-year veteran re-signed with the Panthers this offseason on a six-year deal that will basically ensure that he ends his career in South Florida. He stresses how it's "such a different experience" winning it this deep into his career compared to when he was just a 23-year-old kid with no responsibilities.
"We've been close a couple times, but to be able to look up and see them celebrate and their joy in it all, it's such a different experience," says Marchand. "The first one it's just all about me and me making it and celebrating and accomplishing that dream. This time around is more as a family, us being able to celebrate and enjoy it together, and something that most people never get to do and to experience. Pretty incredible on both ends of the spectrum, it literally couldn't be any different. But it's pretty awesome."
While Marchand's mindset is obviously set on continuing to win more Stanley Cups in South Florida — he says the team being healthy and playing well at the right time as key ingredients — he'll forever be known for his long tenure with the Bruins. Marchand played 1,090 regular season games in Boston and 157 playoff games. His number of games played is the fourth-most in franchise history.
Marchand is releasing his own beer line through Samuel Adams called the "Marchand (y)." The beer is a blueberry-flavored ale and it's his first alcoholic drink through the Boston-based brand. The can features an animated picture of the two-time All-Star surrounded by the Bruins' trademark gold colors.
"Sam Adams is a staple beer company in Boston, obviously in the New England area," says Marchand. "Seen a lot of guys who did partnerships with them in the past, was always very jealous. When the opportunity came up, I was really excited about it. I thought it was a great opportunity to create something special for the Boston fan base and for myself. I had a ton of ton of fun going through the process."
The Boston favorite says he isn't sure if there will be more releases, but says he's hoping for more and that this is "not the last" one.
"Their team is awesome," says Marchand. "They did a really good job of kind of putting something together and kind of sent it over. We go back and forth on the process a little bit, and made sure that we're both really happy with how it came out taste wise, how it came out with the design. It's great, and I love the shanties, and it just all lined up really easy. It wasn't a tough process. I'm not an overly difficult guy, I don't think I was too picky about it. But they were great from the get go, they made the process there pretty easy to deal with."
Although Marchand now represents the Panthers, the star winger will always consider the city of Boston to be his 'home.'
'It's my home, is an easy way to put it,' says Marchand of Boston. 'I've really grown to love the city, the area, the people there. I love the four different seasons that you get there, you get everything, you get the beautiful summers, the falls there are incredible. It's my favorite time of year in that area. I'm a huge winter guy, Christmas guy. I love all of that aspect area that my kids get to experience. It means so much to me, because I came in as a young kid, and I've grown up now, I have a family. I have kids there.'
Marchand details just how much Boston means to him considering the relationships he developed along the way during his playing career. The Nova Scotia native was drafted by the Bruins in 2006.
'We've grown tremendous amount of relationships outside of hockey and our whole life's there,' says Marchand. 'It's so close to where I grew up. We got ties to back home in our areas. My wife is from there, her family's from there, she has an entire friend base from there. And again, the relationships you meet along the way. A lot of them reside in Boston and are very close friends.'
Boston, which is known as being arguably the most passionate sports city in America, wants to 'win' more than the players do. It's one of the key traits Marchand will always remember most about playing in the city.
'You go to the sport aspect, where it's so passionate,' says Marchand. 'The fans are so passionate. They want to win more than we want to win. They let you hear about it every day. If you have a great game, you go through the streets, you hear about it. You have a bad game, you go through the streets, you hear about it. We're very fortunate there, where we have the Sox, the Celtics and the Pats. The fans constantly have teams to root for, and they wear their heart on the sleeve.'