‘We are Bostonians now and forever:’ Brad Marchand thanks Bruins fans in full-page Globe ad
Brad Marchand still has something to say.
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Brad Marchand still has something to say.
The former Bruins captain took out a full-page advertisement in the Monday, March 10 edition of the Boston Globe thanking fans in Boston after he was shipped to Florida at the trade deadline on Friday.
His letter reads:
“To Boston,
“Thank you for welcoming me into this great city when I was just a young Canadian kid looking to break into the best league in the world. You allowed me to achieve my dream of playing in the National Hockey League and winning the Stanley Cup. For this I am forever grateful. You also embraced me from day one and immediately brought me into your family. Since that time, I have become a husband and a father to a beautiful family. My family is now your family: We are Bostonians now and forever.
“Representing this city as captain of the Boston Bruins was the greatest honor of my life, and it was a privilege to wear the Spoked B over the past 16 years. Boston will always be a part of me, and it will always be a part of my family. There are far too many people I want to thank to be able to include in this short note, but just know how grateful I am for the time I spent in Boston playing for the Bruins.
“Thank you.”
Marchand was drafted in 2006 by Boston and made his NHL debut in October 2009.
One of the most competitive and gritty players in the NHL, Marchand was the franchise’s last link to the Stanley Cup champion team of 2011. During Marchand’s tenure, the Bruins won three Presidents’ Trophies, five division titles, and made the Stanley Cup Final in 2011, 2013, and 2019.
The Canadian collected 422 goals and 976 points in 1,090 regular-season games. He added another 56 goals and 138 points in 157 playoff games.
The Bruins dealt Marchand to the championship-contending Florida Panthers on Friday for a conditional second-round pick in 2027. Marchand is set to be an unrestricted free agent after this season.
He had previously stated his desire to remain a Bruin, and the team’s general manager, Don Sweeney, said as recently as last month that the two sides were trying to work on a deal that could make that happen.
But Sweeney said those talks trailed off.
“Deep down, we had been talking — from day two, I think, of free agency in terms of what his intentions were and where we were at,” Sweeney said Friday. “And we always had a bit of a term gap that took us a while, and felt that we had been able to bridge that.
“But again, a player is more than entitled to have an understanding of what they think their market value is and do what’s best for them. And I have to always respect that. There’s never an ounce of me that won’t respect what that player thinks is best for him and his family. And that’s the decision that was made. And we had to make a really, really difficult decision to say, well, let’s give Brad another opportunity with a really good team.”
Marchand is out week-to-week with an upper-body injury and is expected to be out of the lineup when the Panthers face the Bruins on Tuesday at TD Garden.
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