Brad Marchand gets emotional during first appearance as member of Florida Panthers
It was more than two days after the trade.
Brad Marchand was in a South Florida hotel room, on FaceTime with his children back home in Massachusetts.
Just as they were saying their goodbyes, Marchand spotted something on the table: a brand new Florida Panthers hat.
“I was like, ‘before you go, look at this,’ and I put it on,” Marchand said on Monday, addressing the media for the first time as a member of the Panthers.
He was acquired on Friday, moments before the NHL Trade Deadline, after spending his entire 16-year career with the Boston Bruins.
“It was a weird feeling,” he admitted through a laugh.
Now there he stood, behind a podium in the Panthers meeting room at the Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale, draped in red and blue team swag.
The newest member of the Cats. Brad Marchand.
“This is an incredible opportunity and one I’m really excited about,” he said. “I feel rejuvenated coming here. They’re a completely different mindset from where we were as a team and the things we were going through, to now coming in and seeing the path that these guys are on and the way they’re preparing for the playoffs, and the way their preparation starts in the mornings, and the way they deal with things, it’s exciting. It’s a great opportunity.”
Marchand spoke to the South Florida media for nearly 20 minutes on Monday.
It was something to see the 36-year-old future Hall of Famers go through a roller coaster of emotions as he spoke about his time in Boston, leaving the only NHL team he’s ever played for, coming to a team that has been a bitter rival, being traded moments before the Deadline and everything that’s happened since.
He gave such long and thoughtful answers, it felt best to leave them intact.
Marchand on the trade: “The way I look at these things is, it would have been an incredible opportunity to be in Boston and play in one place my entire career, but I’ve always had this attitude that you need to be grateful for every opportunity. And you know, the gratitude piece doesn’t get lost on me. It’s a privilege to be part of this league and to be able to play here, and to be able to play a game that we love every day for a living. So when the trade happened, like I said, I was disappointed and I was sad, but I’m still extremely grateful that I get to come to an incredible place, an incredible team, a very, very, very competitive team, and that’s what you want. Ultimately, we chase the Stanley Cup, and you want a chance at playing for that every single year, and to be able to be part of a great team that has that opportunity again this year, I’m very grateful for that. You never know how long you have in this league. You never know when your last day is going to be, and you want to make the most of it.”
On the fit in Florida: “Obviously they’ve bounced us the last couple years in playoff, they’ve bounced the Bruins the last couple years, and it is been pretty remarkable to see the growth they’ve had as a group the last few years. I think throughout this year, we played the team multiple times, and I remember just thinking that’s the team to beat this year. I thought the way that they came at you in waves all game long, just the depth that they had in their group, they have the experience, they know what it takes when they get in those tough situations, and that’s invaluable. They didn’t lose many guys, and the guys that they did replace them with are great players. I looked at the group, and I was like that, that that’s the team that has the ability to go all the way again and when you match the drive with the experience and the depth of the group, it’s a very dangerous combination. So when things were kind of coming up and kind of writing was on the wall, this is absolutely the place I wanted to go.”
On being himself with his new team: “I’ve had opportunities in the past where I’ve walked into different rooms with different Canada teams and things like that, and the way I view coming in here is, I’m not coming here to step on toes, but I’m also not going to change who I am. I just have kind of an outgoing personality, and when I get in the room and games on ice, my competitiveness kind of takes over. I get a little bit vocal and emotional at times, and the great thing about when your part of a really big group, and I think especially in the hockey culture, is guys don’t take things personally. There’s gonna be moments where I’m sure I’ll be a little bit loud or maybe a little bit emotional, and have some words with guys or whatever it is, but it’s all because I like to push guys, I like to make environments competitive, and that’s just who I am. But I also like to have a lot of fun, and I like to joke around and I’m really excited to get to know guys. I just bumped into Mikkola, and I just told him excited I am to not have to be ran by him every time I touch the puck, so just things like that, where, you know, guys have a lot of fun getting to know each other.”
On playing with Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk: “Those guys are incredible players. They have created a niche and a game that has allowed them to have an incredible amount of success in this league, but what I love about it is they play the right way. They play the type of game, you know…there’s guys that are built for the regular season, and there’s guys that are built for playoffs, and they are built for playoffs. They are built to win. They play a winning style. They play the game 200 feet, the right way, and they’re very difficult to play against. The way I look at my game, I never played a certain way because I felt like I had to for a group, or to try to get the team going. I played my way because that’s just how I play, and that’s what they do. I don’t feel like I need to change anything. I can’t change anything, that would just be a detriment, but I think we’ll have a lot of complimentary pieces of our game. When you look at their team, there’s a lot of guys that play the way (Bennett and Tkachuk) do. I think that’s just the way that their coached is to play through guys and to play hard, and they all stick up for each other in piles and stuff like that, because they just have the love for each other as a group, that you take care of one another, and you stick together, and that’s what winning teams have.”
On his injury and the recovery process: “I’m getting better every day, I guess that’s how I would describe it. We’re actually going to do more today, the team had a day off yesterday, so I unfortunately didn’t get to spend as much time with everyone as I would like to. I think the biggest thing when you’re not on the ice, is just spend more time with the group off the ice and get to know each other. ‘m hoping, if things go well today, I might be able to jump on the ice tomorrow, but we haven’t gone that far yet. So I’m going to try a couple things today here that I haven’t been able to do yet, and kind of go from there. But timeline wise, I don’t really know when I’ll be back. It’s always been something that I’ve taken a lot of pride in, is trying to really limit the amount of games that I’ve missed, and trying to push through whatever I can to play, and that won’t change here.”
On leaving the Bruins: “The biggest thing for me is I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cam (Neely) and (Don Sweeney) and Charlie (Jacobs). The guys in there that are making the decisions have obviously been there a long time and I’ve gotten to know them very well, not just on a business relationship, but, you know, as personal relationships as well. We have very great friendships, and it’s very tough when you have to deal with the business side of things. We had a conversation when things started that we weren’t going to make it public at all. Nothing good comes in these situations when you start talking about the details of the behind the scenes, of how these things go down, so I’m really going to try to stay away from it. We obviously were working to try to get an extension done, and Sweeney said it the other day, there was a gap. We talked all the way up to, I think it was maybe the day before, the night before the Trade Deadline, and we didn’t talk the final day, but we both felt that we had a position, and ultimately we didn’t get it done.
“I do want to kind of clean up, because I’ve seen the last few days, just the narrative that’s been going around, I want to kind of set the record straight. I don’t have any ill will towards the management group, towards (Sweeney), Cam or Charlie. I’ve had an incredible run in that organization, and I’m extremely proud just how things went there. Sorry. So, yeah, it was very disappointing that things didn’t get done just because obviously I love the organization, I wanted to stay there, but at the end of the day, I also know that this business is business, and every player has a shelf life, and regardless if that’s when we want it to be or not, sometimes there’s things that over control that dictate situations.
If we (Boston) were in the playoffs at the point in time, we’d probably be having a much different conversation, and I know that. It’s something we had talked about previously, but we weren’t, and at that point, very tough decisions have to be made. The one thing that I always respect, I told Cam and Sweeney this, is they have a job to do, and they have to make the best decisions for the team, and I completely understand where the decisions need to be made. Yeah, sometimes they work against you, but that’s why I believe (Sweeney) is one of, if not the best general manager in the league. I’ve watched him for a very long time excel at his job, and for those who are in the organization and know the effort that he puts in every day and how hard he works, no one would question where his loyalty lies, and that is to do what’s best for the team every day. When you’re part of that group, you feel it. Sometimes, like I said, every guy has their day and it’s obviously not what you want to have happen, but I don’t hold that against him or the group. It’s just part of life, it’s part of the game. But also he did create this opportunity for me to be here, so I am grateful beyond words for everything that that organization has done for me.”
On having Bennett as a teammate considering their recent history: “Yeah, he’s still a scumbag. No Benny is great. I really had a great time getting him at 4 Nations, we got along really, really well. I wasn’t surprised that that we would get along. As much as you don’t want things like that to happen to you, I’ve been on the other side of that, and I know that things like that happen because you’re competing and you just play the game hard and play the right away, and he does. I love being his teammate, playing with him the 4 Nations, and very excited to be here and be his teammate again and try to go on a really good run. He’s one of those guys that you absolutely want to play with and not against, and I’m really looking forward to… actually my jaw is really looking forward to playing with him.”
