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What Brad Marchand said of potentially returning to Bruins in July
"Can things change down the road? Potentially, but that's to be seen."
Brad Marchand was back on the TD Garden ice on Tuesday morning. Only this time, the 36-year-old winger shed the spoked-B for a Panthers logo.
While the former Bruins captain is still weeks away from returning to game action following an upper-body injury, Marchand is starting to ingratiate himself to his new teammates days after Boston dealt him to one of their most-loathed rivals.
“I don’t think I have to change to fit their game,” Marchand said of meshing with Florida during an extended meeting with the media at TD Garden on Tuesday. “I think I’ve played that way for my entire career. They play a competitive, hard style. They play simple, they compete at the highest level and they’re winners.
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“They want to win, they sacrifice, they do what it takes. And so I’m really excited to get out there and compete at that level.”
While Marchand is looking to chase another Stanley Cup this spring, he also reflected on his future this summer. The future Hall of Famer is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
Could he potentially entertain a return to Boston this summer?
“I mean, I don’t know — I guess, is how I would respond,” Marchand said when asked about permanently closing this chapter of his career in Boston. “I don’t know what the future brings in terms of how it plays out in the summertime. I know it didn’t come together. Now can things change down the road? Potentially, but that’s to be seen. So I am sure we’ll have a conversation down the road, but I don’t know where that goes.
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“So I mean obviously I would still — it doesn’t change my love for the city and the will to want to be here has never changed. I don’t think that it will ever change. It’s just whether we can have a meeting of the minds and kind of come together, but it’s to be seen.”
For all of the reported contract strife between the Bruins and Marchand that eventually led to his departure, Marchand spoke highly of Boston’s top brass during his first comments as a Panther on Monday.
He echoed those similar sentiments again on Tuesday, stressing that Don Sweeney and the team’s management had to make the proper call in order to fuel their ongoing retool.
“I’m not going to get into the details on everything, but they tried to do what was best for the team and also give me an opportunity to stay if I wanted to. … I think they were at a crossroads as well where they wanted to do right by me and also had to make sure that they do their jobs and do it in the best interest of the group.”
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While Marchand’s focus is to max out of the remainder of his years in the NHL, he acknowledged that the Bruins likely aren’t on the same timeline — especially after overhauling a significant portion of their roster.
“I want to win. I’m a competitor and the guys in that office are competitors and they want to win and they’re not going to go down the path of building losing teams. So they are doing what they feel is right to build for a bright future when they have a young core and you can’t get upset about those things.
“I would’ve loved and it would’ve been incredible to have that fairytale ending, but they’re doing what’s right for the guys in the room. They can’t choose one guy over the 20 guys and frankly, the millions of people that support the team. You owe it to the guys that are on term here that are young and the guys that just signed with the organization to build a Cup-contending team. … So it’s not a personal thing. I never let it get personal.”
Marchand again brushed aside talk of donning a black-and-gold sweater once again in July.
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“You can’t waste a day,” Marchand said. “I learned that very the hard way a couple years ago when we had the best season ever and we just thought we were going to be in the finals. And you waste the day, you start looking ahead, you start worrying about things that are not in your immediate future.
“It can pull you away from what you need to do to accomplish the goal here and now. So I’m not going to think about that. I’m not going to worry about it until the time comes. … I can’t even think about what’s going to happen down the road.”
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