Trade Proposal Sends Bruins Brad Marchand to Golden Knights

This season, the Boston Bruins have been plagued with injuries. They’ve struggled to string together consistent wins; rumors of what might happen should they fail to turn the season around have hung above their heads like a raincloud. With the Trade Deadline tomorrow, time has officially run out for the Bruins this season. As reported on Thursday by my colleague Andrew Fantucchio of Boston Hockey Now, the Bruins are now likely to move on from their captain, Brad Marchand.

Chris Johnston of The Athletic and TSN reported that while nothing is certain, the Bruins seem more likely to trade Marchand than keep him.

“At this point in time, there’s no confirmation that [Brad Marchand] is going to be traded, but the feeling is league-wide that he is likely to be moved by the Bruins at some point to the West,” Johnston said on Thursday’s edition of Insider Trading. “We’ll see where this goes. There have been some conversations on a new contract as recently as the last couple of days. There’s always the pivot point when we get this close. You don’t want to box yourself totally in, but it does feel like it’s moving toward a Marchand deal.”

The Vegas Golden Knights are believed to be interested, as are the Colorado Avalanche. 

Marchand is 36 but still playing at an extremely high level. He’s second on the Bruins in scoring, second in goals, and tied for second in assists. He plays on the penalty kill, the top power play unit, and averages 18:26 of ice time.

If a team manages to pry Marchand from the Bruins’ clutches, it feels inevitable that the Golden Knights will be the culprit. Sure, they don’t have many assets. But general manager Kelly McCrimmon has an all-in mindset that’s invaluable to the Golden Knights and their success.

Why Marchand Would Fit

Brad Marchand is a special player. He was drafted in the third round in 2006 and didn’t become an NHL regular until the 2010-11 season. He came into the league as a fourth-liner. But on February 19th, 2024, Marchand became one of eight skaters to play 1,000 games as a member of the Boston Bruins. 

The Golden Knights are a team that thrives on an underdog– Misfit– mentality. They’re castoffs, grinders who have had to fight for every inch of their NHL career. Marchand would fit right in.

Marchand would fit the Golden Knights system like a glove. He has a high hockey IQ, and he’s so smart defensively. A line of Brad Marchand, Jack Eichel, and Mark Stone would be dangerous offensively; defensively, they would frustrate opponents to no end. 

This Golden Knights roster had a winning pedigree. Seventeen of their roster players have won the Stanley Cup; with Marchand, that number would increase to eighteen. There’s a lot of value in icing a team full of players who know what it takes to win. 

Marchand is week-to-week after suffering an upper-body injury in a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but that’s not a big problem. If anything, it would make it easier for the Golden Knights to acquire him. Marchand is a pending UFA making $6.125 million; after trading for Original Misfit Reilly Smith on Thursday, the Golden Knights have less than $500k in salary cap space.

Now, the Golden Knights don’t technically need another winger, especially not after acquiring Reilly Smith. But it certainly doesn’t hurt to have so many offensive weapons; it allows for infinite dangerous line combinations. And if a player like Brad Marchand is on the market, it’s hard to imagine a world where the Golden Knights don’t make an aggressive offer.

The Offer: Golden Knights trade F Trevor Connelly, D Lukas Cormier, 2027 first-round pick, and 2025 second-round pick for Brad Marchand

This is close to every asset general manager Kelly McCrimmon has. Connelly, the Golden Knights’ first-round pick in 2024, is easily the best prospect in their system– and the 37th-ranked drafted prospect, per an Athletic ranking. He’s a creative playmaking winger with great hands and a deceptive release. Cormier was a third-round selection in the 2020 draft and is projected to be a top-six defenseman.

Is it a steep price? Sure. This is the Golden Knights’ entire future, and that isn’t an exaggeration. But look at this forward group:

Brad Marchand-Jack Eichel-Mark Stone

Brandon Saad-Tomáš Hertl-Pavel Dorofeyev

Ivan Barbashev-William Karlsson-Reilly Smith

Brett Howden-Nicolas Roy-Tanner Pearson/Victor Olofsson

That’s a forward group that can win it all. It might be the best in the Western Conference. This is a deep, balanced group that would be able to score just as well as they could defend. If scoring dried up, the Golden Knights would have no shortage of options to shake up the lineup.

The Golden Knights have demonstrated time and time again that they’ll gladly pay the price of winning. No asset is untouchable if they think they can win the Stanley Cup. And this would certainly be a group capable of doing just that.