He didn’t want to leave the Boston Bruins, the team that drafted him in 2006, won a Stanley Cup with him in 2011 and that he captained for the past two seasons after Patrice Bergeron retired. The team with whom he gained fame with 976 points in 1,090 games, as well as infamy as one of the NHL’s most accomplished agitators. He dreamed about being a one-team guy, one of the rarest accomplishments for veteran stars in a transient sport.
Marchand regrets not being able to say goodbye to Boston fans on his own terms before the NHL trade deadline.
“I got hurt before I got traded. The last game I’ll ever play in a Bruins jersey was not the last game I thought I was ever going to play in a Bruins jersey,” he said.
Marchand’s final home game in Boston was a loss to the New York Islanders on Feb. 27. His final game with the Bruins was March 3 in Pittsburgh. He was traded to the Florida Panthers on March 7, the result of a contract impasse with Boston management and the team’s pivot to a retool.
He fought back tears in his first public appearance as a Panther. “At the end of the day, I know the business is the business and everybody has a shelf life,” he said. “I am grateful, beyond words, for everything that organization has done for me.”
Marchand regrets not appreciating all the experiences he had in Boston.
“When you come to the rink, it can be stressful. You start overthinking things. There’s this pressure you sometimes put on yourself. You start stressing about things that you don’t need to stress about,” he said. “I know that there are moments that I missed out on or didn’t really appreciate because I was stressing about other things.”
For example, the Bruins had 135 points in 2022-23, becoming the most successful regular-season team in NHL history. The Panthers shocked the league — and began their nascent dynasty — with a seven-game upset in the first round of the playoffs that ended the series at a funeral-pitched TD Garden.
“We thought we were going to go to the finals that year. We thought we were going to win it all, and then we got pushed out in the first round,” Marchand said. “You start looking back at those moments and you realize you took all we did that season for granted because we were so worried about going to the finals. We weren’t living in the moment.”
Those are old regrets for the new Brad Marchand. The playoff disappointment, the breakup with the Bruins, the deadline trade … they were all shocks to his system that reoriented his thinking.
“I’m just not going to do that to myself this time around,” he said. “I’m coming to the rink every day just having fun and trying to live in the moment, not taking anything too seriously.”
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0:44
Panthers pour it on with 2 more quick goals
The Panthers net two more goals in just over a minute to pad their lead vs. the Hurricanes.
Marchand started to rethink his own mindfulness when he arrived in Florida.
“My family’s not here and I have a lot more time to sit home and think and go over things in my head than I normally do,” he said. “Being here, they talk about being in the moment. Just going day by day. About taking time to reflect on things and appreciate them.”
And so Marchand decided he was just going to enjoy himself during this run with the Panthers, which finds them back in the Stanley Cup Final, seeking a second straight championship against the Edmonton Oilers, whom they defeated in Game 7 for the Cup last season.
“I’m literally just trying to have fun out there and have fun in here,” he said, motioning to the dressing room.
“The Dairy Queen thing is a great example.”
THE “DAIRY QUEEN THING” sprang from an interview between Marchand and Sportsnet rinkside reporter Kyle Bukauskas. He asked Marchand about a run to Dairy Queen that the Panthers made during the Eastern Conference finals games in Raleigh, and then introduced a clip of Marchand eating something with a spoon in between periods of Florida’s Game 3 win. Bukauskas asked Marchand if he was “refueling with a Blizzard” in the locker room.
Marchand extolled the virtues of the chocolate chip cookie dough Blizzard as “the best dessert in the world,” and made a pitch to DQ PR for a lifetime supply of the frozen treats for that endorsement.
“We had a little fun on the off day. There was a DQ by the hotel. We popped over and enjoyed our night,” Marchand explained.
This interview went viral, with many fans (and media) taking it as gospel that Marchand had been eating ice cream in between periods. His teammates were interviewed about it. Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice was asked about it during his news conferences.
Days later, Marchand was finally asked about eating ice cream in the locker room during a game.
“It wasn’t a Blizzard,” Marchand said, with a tone that rendered the accusation absurd. “I was not eating a Blizzard in the middle of a game.”
Marchand explained that he was referencing the Panthers’ trip to Dairy Queen during the Sportsnet interview. “I was referencing that. I was making a joke about our excursion a couple of nights before. Just kind of making a joke off of it and I think people took it seriously,” he said.
After the interview went viral, Marchand said his phone blew up with messages from people saying they were inspired by him to go to Dairy Queen.
“I appreciate the support,” he said. “I love a good Blizzard more than anybody, but it’s not something I’ve had in the middle of the game.”
For many, this was never really about whether Marchand was wolfing down ice cream in his dressing room stall. It was essentially a tribute to the mercurial nature of the star winger that he reasonably could have been the guy eating Dairy Queen between periods. There’s something indelible about the most agitating player on the ice celebrating his wickedness with spoonfuls of cookie dough ice cream during intermission.
But it wasn’t ice cream or cookie dough or peanut butter. Marchand eventually revealed he was caught consuming “something healthy” on camera.
“It was honey. I was having honey. It was a spoonful of honey.”
Because he’s sweet?
“Because I’m a bear,” he responded.
Marchand said he has always had an affinity for honey.
“Actually, when I was growing up, I loved Winnie the Pooh. So I used to have a Winnie the Pooh [doll] and I used to feed the bear honey. So it was covered with honey and would get rock hard,” he said. “I don’t think [my parents] enjoyed cleaning up the mess. But I had fun.”
Marchand paused for effect.
“It’s what we do in Halifax. We feed teddy bears honey.”
Everyone laughed.
IT’S STILL SURREAL to think about where Marchand started in his NHL career to where he has ended up.
When the Bruins won the Cup in 2011, Marchand was a brash 23-year-old winger whose burgeoning offensive game was secondary to his extracurricular activities on the ice. Like when he used Vancouver Canucks winger Daniel Sedin as a punching bag in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, delivering around six shots to his face without the on-ice officials stepping in.
When asked why he kept punching Sedin, Marchand responded, “Because I felt like it.”
He was the guy who got a misspelled tattoo after the Bruins won the Cup.
“Let me clear something up. After we won, a bunch of us got tattoos here in the dressing room of the Garden. Mine originally was misspelled,” he said in an ESPN player diary. “Instead of saying Stanley Cup Champions it said ‘Stanley Cup Champians.’ I don’t even know how that happened.”
(It was fixed before the next season.)
He was the player who was suspended six times by the NHL between 2011 and 2018 for illegal hits, and was given a six-game suspension as recently as 2022. He was a player known as much for his goading as his goal scoring.
But in 2025? Marchand was “an elder statesman” for Team Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off, according to coach Jon Cooper.
“Love him. I can’t say enough great things about him, his energy and passion. He seems to find the fountain of youth any time he comes into one of these tournaments. He’s one of the guys everybody turns to when everything’s under fire,” Cooper said. “The loudest guy on the bench, pumping everybody up, is Brad Marchand. For somebody that’s been around as long as he has, he doesn’t have to do that.”
That energy is one of the things Maurice likes best about Marchand.
“He is such a unique guy. He’s as wired at breakfast as he is at game time,” he said.
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0:37
Fortenbaugh’s best bet for Panthers-Oilers Stanley Cup rematch
Joe Fortenbaugh explains why he’s taking the Panthers to repeat as champions against the Oilers.
Maurice remembered when GM Bill Zito told him that the Panthers would be acquiring Matthew Tkachuk in 2022 and not believing he’d be able to pull it off. He had a similar reaction when Zito told him last summer that Chicago defenseman Seth Jones might be available. When Zito told him about Marchand, he knew it was real. “If he says it, then it could happen,” Maurice said.
Truth be told, Maurice didn’t believe the Panthers had “a huge hole” in their lineup for Marchand to fill. He was also concerned about how the 37-year-old would fit on a roster that was largely the same as the one that captured the Stanley Cup last season.
Two of Marchand’s former Bruins teammates are Panthers executives: Shawn Thornton, chief revenue officer, and Gregory Campbell, assistant general manager. They assured Maurice that Marchand would be an ideal Panther.
“There’s just many stories about bringing them high-end guys toward the end of their career and it doesn’t work and it doesn’t fit. But they were sure,” the coach recalled.
When Marchand arrived with the Panthers, Maurice soon understood the fit — on the ice and off the ice.
“His personality took some pressure off the rest of the guys. I actually have more quiet guys than we have loud guys. You all know that [Aleksander] Barkov is not doing a podcast when he’s done [playing],” Maurice said. “They’re like, ‘OK, Marchy’s here, he can do all the talking and we can just relax.'”
The Panthers had some talkers last season in forward Ryan Lomberg and defenseman Brandon Montour, who both left via free agency.
“Some of these guys start talking in their car and don’t stop until they left the rink. They just go on all the time,” Maurice said. “It was nice to have that element again that we kind of lost a little bit of it. He’s brought it back.”
Marchand has also learned through years when to hold his tongue with the media. Like when Carolina defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere intentionally shot the puck at Marchand in Game 1 of the conference finals, which led to Marchand getting a misconduct penalty. When Marchand was asked about his thoughts, he replied: “Yeah, I’m not much of a thinker.”
Maurice nodded to that moment in his news conference later that day.
“He’s a great interview. He’s very, very bright, even though I hear he is a man of very few thoughts,” he said, drawing laughs. “That’s a good line. I’m stealing it.”
ON THE ICE, Marchand has been primarily paired with center Anton Lundell, 23, and winger Eetu Luostarinen, 26, during the Panthers’ run to the Final, forming one of the most effective lines in the postseason. In 17 games together, the line has had 55% of the shot attempts when on the ice, 56% of the expected goals, has 4.2 goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 and just 0.82 goals against per 60 minutes.
Maurice raved about what Marchand “has done with those two young players” on Florida’s third line. “The way they’ve expanded, the way they play … part of it is playing off him,” he said.
Marchand has 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in the playoffs. Luostarinen has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) while Lundell has 12 points (five goals, seven assists).
Marchand had high praise for Luostarinen.
“He plays a man’s game. He plays through bodies. He’s hard on pucks, wins a lot of battles,” Marchand said. “He’s very, very skilled. He’s great with the puck. He doesn’t force plays. He’s very smart in the way that he plays.”
Marchand then bestowed the greatest accolade he could muster onto Luostarinen: He reminds Marchand of Bergeron, his six-time Selke Trophy-winning teammate with the Bruins.
“He’s so defensively good with the stick. It reminds me a lot of Bergy, where he leads with the stick a lot, kills a lot of plays that way and creates offense from that,” Marchand said.
Marchand said he enjoys playing with his Panthers linemates because they have similar “simple, direct” games.
“We just complement each other all over the ice because we read the game pretty well on both sides of it. We support each other pretty well, all the way up and down the ice and then in the corner,” he said. “So I think we just because of that, we’re able to create offense out, little scrums, stuff like that.”
He said skating with Lundell and Luostarinen has been revitalizing.
“They play fast and they play hard and they’re young, energetic guys. It keeps me feeling young,” Marchand said. “I’m lying to myself. I feel 25 again. I feel rejuvenated and part of that comes to playing with some younger guys and part of a really good group of guys in here.”
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0:36
Panthers take care of Hurricanes in 5 to advance to Stanley Cup Final
The Florida Panthers win 5-3 in a back-and-forth Game 5 battle vs. the Hurricanes to advance to their third consecutive Stanley Cup Final.
Marchand didn’t always feel they were good guys. Not when Matthew Tkachuk was terrorizing his Bruins in the playoffs in 2023 and 2024.
“He’s a competitor. He’s there to win. His reputation proceeds him,” Marchand said of Tkachuk. “One of the most gifted players in the league around the net. He brings an element to the group that brings guys swagger.”
Someone asked what opponents think about having Marchand and Tkachuk — two legendary provocateurs — on the ice for Florida.
“I mostly feel sorry for the guys in our room. Not too many guys are going to get a break here now,” Marchand said of him and Tkachuk. “It’s nice to be on his team rather than going against him, for sure.”
Then there’s Sam Bennett, who appeared to sucker punch Marchand during the Panthers’ playoff series win over the Bruins in 2024. It knocked Marchand out of the series for two games and didn’t result in further discipline for Bennett. At the trade deadline in 2025, they became teammates.
“I didn’t hold a grudge. Again, I know how this game’s played. I played a similar way,” Marchand said. “It’s something that we joke about. I can laugh it off. I joke about it all the time. I joke about it more than he does, but I definitely joke about it.”
Maurice said there’s a reason that hockey players who were the fiercest rivals can become teammates without much acrimony.
“I think you find out when a player walks in the room, even if he’s had his great battles, they’re so happy that it’s over. They don’t have to fight you anymore. They don’t have to hack and whack in the corner for 60 minutes,” Maurice said. “Brad Marchand and Sam Bennett are best friends now. A year ago, you would’ve never thought that could happen.”
A year ago, Brad Marchand becoming a Florida Panther wasn’t something many believed could happen, although it makes perfect sense now: The Rat King, joining the franchise that celebrates wins by throwing plastic rats on the ice.
In fact, Marchand has become a new part of that tradition. After Florida wins, if there are rats on the ice, his teammates have taken to shooting the faux rodents at Marchand as they’re leaving for the dressing room.
“They see my family on the ice and want us to be together,” Marchand deadpanned.
As the playoffs have progressed, “they’re shooting to hurt now,” according to Marchand. “Matthew Tkachuk caught me with one last game that I actually really felt there,” he said.
Marchand is feeling a lot these days. The sting of the trade dissipates a little more with every playoff win. He’s having more fun and stressing less, among teammates with whom he has quickly bonded. And he’s a few wins from another Stanley Cup, in the third Final he has reached since winning his first ring 14 years ago.
“It’s exciting. You hope that you get to this point. Obviously, we have a great team and we played well so far. We got to the point where we want to be, but we haven’t accomplished anything yet,” Marchand said.
“I may never get back this late in the playoffs ever again in my career. These are memories and moments that you want to embrace.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes champion Sovereignty rallied after losing position heading into the final turn to win the $500,000 Jim Dandy by a length at Saratoga on Saturday.
Ridden by Junior Alvarado, Sovereignty ran nine furlongs in 1:49.52 and paid $3 to win as the 1-2 favorite against four rivals, the smallest field of his career.
Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said Sovereignty would be pointed toward the $1.25 million Travers on Aug. 23 at the upstate New York track.
Approaching the turn, there were a few tense moments as it appeared Sovereignty was retreating when losing position to the advancing Baeza and deep closers Sandman and Hill Road, leaving Sovereignty in last for a few strides.
Alvarado said he never had a doubt that Sovereignty would come up with his expected run.
“It was everybody else moving and at that time I was just like, ‘Alright let me now kind of start picking it up,'” Alvarado said. “I had 100% confidence. I knew what I had underneath me.”
Baeza, third to Sovereignty in both the Derby and Belmont, finished second. Hill Road was another 9¼ lengths back in third. Mo Plex was fourth and Sandman fifth.
INDIANAPOLIS — Chase Briscoe became the first driver to win poles at NASCAR’s first three crown jewel races in one season Saturday, taking the Brickyard 400 pole with a fast lap of 183.165 mph.
His late run bumped Bubba Wallace out of the top starting spot.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has won nine career poles, five coming this season including those at the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600 and now the only race held in Briscoe’s home state. He’ll have a chance to complete a crown jewel sweep at the Southern 500 in late August.
Briscoe has the most pole wins this season, his latest coming on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.5-mile oval. It also came on the same weekend his sister was married in Indiana. Briscoe has never won the Brickyard.
Wallace starts next to Briscoe on the front row after posting a lap of 183.117 mph. Those two also led a pack of five Toyotas to the front of the field — marking the first time the engine manufacturer has swept the top five spots.
Qualifying was held after a brief, rescheduled practice session. Friday’s practice was rained out.
Briscoe’s teammate, Ty Gibbs, has the early edge in the championship round of NASCAR’s first In-Season Challenge. He qualified fifth at 182.445. Ty Dillon starts 26th. The winner will be crowned champion and walk away with $1 million.
Last week’s race winner Denny Hamlin faces a major hurdle in winning his first Brickyard title. He crashed hard during qualifying and will start from the back of the field, 39th, as he tries to become the fifth driver to complete a career sweep of the Cup’s crown jewel races. The 44-year-old Hamlin signed a two-year contract extension with JGR on Friday.
There’s plenty of history in the rivalry between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies. It’s about 116 miles from Citi Field to Citizens Bank Park. The two teams been competing for the NL East since 1969. Star players from Tug McGraw to Jerry Koosman to Lenny Dykstra to Pedro Martinez to Zack Wheeler have played for both franchises. Mets fans loathe the Phanatic, and Phillies fans laugh derisively at Mr. Met.
Despite this longevity, the two teams have rarely battled for a division title in the same season. The only years they finished No. 1 and 2 or were battling for a division lead late in the season:
1986: Mets finished 21.5 games ahead
2001: Both finished within six games of the Braves
2006: Mets finished 12 games ahead
2007: Phillies finished one game ahead
2008: Phillies finished three games ahead
2024: Phillies finished six games ahead of Mets and Braves
So it’s a rare treat to see the Mets and Phillies battling for the NL East lead in as New York faces the San Francisco Giants on “Sunday Night Baseball” this week. This season has also been a bit of bumpy ride for both teams, so there is pressure on both front offices to make trade deadline additions in hopes of winning the World Series that has eluded both franchises in recent years despite high payrolls and star-laden rosters. Let’s dig into what both teams need to do before Thursday.
The perfect trade deadline for the Mets
1. Bullpen help
The Mets already acquired hard-throwing lefty Gregory Soto from the Orioles, but David Stearns will likely look for another reliever, given that the Mets’ bullpen has struggled since the beginning of June with a 5.02 ERA. In my grade of the trade, I pointed out the importance for the Mets to add left-handed relief. Think of potential playoff opponents and all the key left-handed batters: Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper on the Phillies; Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy on the Dodgers; Kyle Tucker, Michael Busch and Pete Crow-Armstrong on the Cubs.
Soto has held lefties to a .138 average this season, and it does help that the Mets have two lefty starters in David Peterson and Sean Manaea. They also just activated Brooks Raley after he had been out since early 2024. If he is back to his 2022-23 form, when he had a 2.74 ERA and held lefties to a .209 average, maybe the Mets will feel good enough about their southpaw relief.
They could still use another dependable righty reliever. Mets starters were hot early on, but they weren’t going deep into games, and outside of Peterson, the lack of longer outings is a big reason the bullpen ERA has skyrocketed. Carlos Mendoza has overworked his setup guys, including Huascar Brazoban and Reed Garrett. Brazoban has never been much of a strike thrower anyway, and Garrett similarly faded in the second half last season. Adding a high-leverage righty to set up Edwin Diaz makes sense. Candidates there include David Bednar of the Pirates, Ryan Helsley of the Cardinals, Griffin Jax or Jhoan Duran of the Twins, or maybe a longer shot such as Emmanuel Clase or Cade Smith of the Guardians.
Mark Vientos was a huge key to last season’s playoff appearance and trip to the NLCS, hitting .266/.322/.516 with 27 home runs after beginning the season in Triple-A. He hasn’t been able to replicate that performance, though, hitting .224/.279/.354. That has led to a revolving door at third base, with Vientos, Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio starting games there in July. Overall, Mets third basemen ranked 24th in the majors in OPS entering Friday.
Lack of production at third is one reason the Mets’ offense has been mediocre rather than very good — they’re averaging 4.38 runs per game, just below the NL average of 4.43. They could use another premium bat, given the lack of production they’ve received from center field and catcher (not to mention Francisco Lindor‘s slump since the middle of June). Maybe Francisco Alvarez‘s short stint back in Triple-A will get his bat going now that he’s back in the majors, but going after Suarez to hit behind Juan Soto and Pete Alonso would lengthen the lineup.
Tyrone Taylor is a plus defender in center and has made several incredible catches, but he’s hitting .209/.264/.306 for a lowly OPS+ of 65. Old friend Bader is having a nice season with the Twins, hitting .251/.330/.435. Maybe that’s a little over his head, given that he had a .657 OPS with the Mets last season, but he would still be an offensive upgrade over Taylor without losing anything on defense — and he wouldn’t cost a top-tier prospect. The Mets could still mix in Jeff McNeil against the really tough righties, but adding Suarez and Bader would give this lineup more of a championship feel.
The perfect deadline for the Phillies
1. Acquire Jhoan Duran
Like the Mets, the Phillies already made a move here, signing free agent David Robertson, who had a 3.00 ERA and 99 strikeouts in 72 innings last season with the Rangers. On paper, he should help, but he’s also 40 and will need a few games in the minors to get ready. Even with Robertson, the Phillies could use some more help here. They’ll eventually get Jose Alvarado back from his 60-game PED suspension, but Alvarado is ineligible for the postseason. At least the Mets have an elite closer in Edwin Diaz. Jordan Romano leads the Phillies with eight saves and has a 6.69 ERA. Matt Strahm is solid, but more useful as a lefty setup guy than a closer (think of all those left-handed batters we listed for the Mets, then sub out Juan Soto and Brandon Nimmo for Harper and Schwarber).
And the Phillies’ bullpen has consistently come up short in big games. Think back to last year’s NLDS, when Jeff Hoffman lost twice to the Mets. Or 2023, when Craig Kimbrel lost two games in the NLCS against the Diamondbacks. Or the 2022 World Series, when Yordan Alvarez hit the huge home run off Alvarado in the clinching Game 6.
So, yes, a shutdown closer is a must. Maybe that’s Bednar, maybe Clase if he’s available (although he struggled in last year’s postseason), maybe Helsley. But the guy Dave Dombrowski should go all-in to get: Duran. The window for the Phillies is slowly closing as the core players get older. Duran is under control through 2027, so he’s a fit for now and the immediate future. The trade cost might be painful, but with his 100 mph fastball and splitter, he has the elite stuff you need in October.
The Phillies have received below-average production from both left field (mostly Max Kepler) and center field (Brandon Marsh/Johan Rojas platoon). The center-field market is pretty thin except for Bader or maybe a gamble on Luis Robert Jr. I’d pass on Robert, stick with the Marsh/Rojas platoon and upgrade left field with O’Hearn, who is hitting .281/.375/.452 for the Orioles. He isn’t the perfect fit since, like Kepler, he hits left-handed and struggles against lefties, but he’s a patient hitter with a much better OBP, and he’s passable in the outfield.
Here’s the bottom line: The Phillies have to admit that some of their long-term position players aren’t getting the job done — such as second baseman Bryson Stott, who has a 77 OPS+. Third baseman Alec Bohm has been better but also has a below-average OPS.
That makes Castro a nice fit. He’s not a star, but he’s an above-average hitter, a switch-hitter who plays all over the field for the Twins, having started games at five different positions. He could play second or third or start in left field against a lefty. Philadelphia could even start him in center instead of Rojas, although that would be a defensive hit. Bottom line: Castro would give the Phillies a lot more versatility — or a significant offensive upgrade over Stott if they start him every day at second.
Note as well: Stott has hit .188 in 33 career postseason games. Bohm has hit .214 with two home runs in 34 postseason games. The Phillies need a different offensive look for October.