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brad marchand introductory press conference as a florida panther, 3/10/25, full transcript

Opening remarks:

You know, obviously it’s sad to leave a place that I look at as home. Had a lot of great memories in Boston, and a ton of incredible years there, but it’s extremely exciting to be part of such an incredible group. When I walked into the room the other day, I literally had flashbacks to back in the year that we [Bruins] won and some of the groups that we’ve had over the years that I looked at as an incredible chemistry and incredible culture. When you walk in here and you see the way the guys interact and the relationships that they have, not just within the room as players but with their staff and their coaches and management — it shows why they’ve been, you know, the pillar in the league the last few years, so. I’m extremely excited to be part of the group and really looking forward to getting back on the ice and becoming part of the group here.

Brad, Jameson Olive here with the Panthers, obviously you’ve only had one team in your career, but now here you are, new team, new building, new logo, new gear. At this point in your career, how —

How’s it look?

Looks great!

Yeah — you’re a good liar?

It’s a good color!

I thought it brings out my eyes.

At this point in your career, just how exciting is the idea of something new? How much is that going to do for you?

Yeah, the way I look at these things is it… 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. You know, the gratitude piece doesn’t get lost on me that 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. 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. And 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 team that has that opportunity again this year, I’m very grateful for that.

You know, you never know how long you have in this league, you never know when your last day’s going to be, and you want to make the most of it. So, yeah, like I said, it would have been great to be able to stay and play out the career there, but this is an incredible opportunity and one that I’m really excited about, and I feel rejuvenated coming here. You know, there are completely different mindsets from where we [Bruins] 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 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.

You kind of alluded to a lot of the off-ice things and what they’ve built down here. You’ve had a front-row seat to seeing this team succeed the last few years. What do you think drew you to —

Yeah, thanks for that reminder. [Laughter]

But did that help into your decision of wanting to come to Florida [intelligible], so familiar with what they do and how they play and how that would fit into how you play?

Well, obviously, they’ve bounced us the last couple years in playoffs — they’ve bounced the Bruins the last couple years — and it has been pretty remarkable to see the growth they’ve had as a group the last few years. And I think throughout the year here, this year we’ve played the team multiple times, and I remember just thinking, like, “That’s the team to beat this year.” I just thought the way they came at you in waves, all game long, just the depth that they had in their group. I mean 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, so yeah. I looked at the group, and I was like, “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’s on the wall, this was absolutely the place I wanted to go.

Hey Brad, Jessica Blaylock with the the Florida Panthers TV broadcast. Super excited to have you here. (Thank you.) You obviously come in having played over a thousand games, you’ve won a Stanley Cup, you’ve worn the C. How do you balance the leadership aspect that you can bring to this team, with also knowing that this is the first time you’ve walked into a new dressing room?

Yeah, I mean, I’ve had opportunities in the past where I’ve walked into different rooms with different Canada teams, and things like that. The way I view coming in here is, you know, I’m not coming 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 the ice, my competitiveness kind of takes over, so I get a little bit vocal and emotional at times. And the great thing about when you’re part of a really good group and, I think, especially in hockey culture, is guys don’t take things personally. There’s going to be moments, I’m sure, where I’ll be a little bit louder, 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… really excited to get to know guys. I just bumped into [Niko] Mikkola, and I was just telling him how excited I am to not have to be ran by him every time I touch the puck. So just things like that, where guys have a lot of fun getting to know each other, I’m going to do that. Again, like the leadership aspect and stuff, they have an incredible leadership group, they have a ton of veteran guys with a ton of experience, so again, it just kind of comes out, I think, more the competitive side of things in the moment. But just gonna try to be myself, join the group, kind of follow suit. Like I said, they’re on the right path here, and a ton of incredible guys in the room, so, excited to be part of it.

Brad, Steve Simmons, Toronto Sun —

What are you doing down here?

I spend my winters here.

Oh, yeah, tough life, bud.

Excited to come see you.

Okay. [Laughter]

You’re now on a team with your Team Canada teammate, Sam Bennett, with Matt Tkachuk. Three guys who kind of play hockey similarly, or approach the game similarly. What’s it like to not have to be the guy to do the things you do, and to maybe even have a line where you can play with that group and set the league on fire, so to speak?

Yeah, you know, I think… first, those guys are incredible players, I mean… 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, you know? They play the type of game — you know, there’s guys that are built for regular season, there’s guys that are built for playoffs, and they’re built for playoffs. They’re built to win, they play a winning style, they play the game two-hundred 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 or anything like — 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 complementary pieces of our game.

And I think when you look at their team, there’s a lot of guys that play the way they do. I mean, I think that’s just the way they’re coached, is to play through guys and to play hard. 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. Those guys are just a part of an incredible, competitive group, but those guys obviously shine in those moments, and they’re guys that know how to stir the pot and create havoc out there, and I refer to them as predators because you need to know where they are at all times. Those are the guys that you want on your team. Those are the guys that you want to go to battle with, and you want to compete with, and I’m really excited that I had the opportunity to play with Benny and Reino [Sam Reinhart], and there’s multiple guys I’ve played with in the past who are like that, too, as well. Like, Greersy [AJ Greer] is like that, I love Greersy. So when you have that many guys on a team that play like that, it’s a dangerous combination.

Brad, Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, welcome — (Thank you.) Wanted to ask you, obviously, you got banged up a little bit last week, just wanted to know how are you feeling, how’s that coming along, and when you’re not able to be on the ice when you join a new team, just, what’s your approach to building a bond, building a rapport, when you may not be sharing the ice and doing some of the other things with your teammates?

Yeah, I mean I’m getting better every day, I guess is 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 have liked to. But I think the biggest thing when you’re not on the ice is just spend more time with the group off the ice and getting to know each other. I’m hoping if things go well today, I might be able to jump on the ice tomorrow, but we haven’t gotten that far yet, so. Going to try a couple things today 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. I’m gonna shoot to get back as — that was, 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. That won’t change here.

Are you traveling with the team tomorrow — (I am, yeah.) — or, today. (Yep.) Okay. what’s that going to be like? I know you just left Boston.

Yeah, it’s bittersweet, you know. It’ll be great to go home, and the guys were all on the road when I got traded, so I didn’t get to see a lot of the guys before I left, so it’ll be nice to be able to see guys and kind of say goodbye. Great to see the family again and get a bunch of my stuff. So it’s great to go home, it’ll be very weird to be there as an opposing team, so I guess it’s nice, but it’ll be sad with it, too.

Could you walk us through how Friday went down, that last hour? We had heard reports that you were talking about coming closer on the extension, and then when did you just say, you know — and how hard was it to flip that switch, to be like, “Okay, we’re done here?"

Yeah, I think, you know, the biggest thing for me is I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cam [Neely] and Sweens [Don Sweeney] and Charlie [Jacobs], the guys in there that are making decisions. I’ve obviously been there a long time, I’ve gotten to know them very well, not just on a business relationship but 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, but we made an agreement — or, 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 Sweens 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.

But I do want to kind of clean up, ‘cause I’ve seen the last few days, just, the narrative that’s been going around. I want to kind of set the record straight, like, I don’t have any ill will towards the management group, towards Sweens, Cam, or Charlie. I’ve had an incredible run in that organization, and I’m extremely proud — just, how things went there. [visibly emotional] 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 business is business, and every player has a shelf life. And regardless of whether that’s when we want it to be or not, sometimes there’s things out of our control that dictate situations. If, you know, we were in the playoffs at that 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.

And the one thing that I always respect, I told Cam and Sweens 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 Sweens is one of if not the best general managers 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… 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. And when you’re part of that group, you feel it, and 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… [visibly emotional] grateful, beyond words, for everything that that organization has done for me.

Colby Guy, from pucksandpalms.com, we briefly touched on playing with Sam Bennett at the Four Nations tournament, but how much more comfortable did it make you coming into this situation, after everything that happened last year, to kind of get to know him and play on a line with him at that kind of tournament?

Yeah, still a scumbag. [Laughter] No, Benny’s great. I really had a great time getting to know him at Four Nations. We get along really, really well. I wasn’t surprised that we would get along. You know, 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 way — and he does. I loved being his teammate, playing with him at the Four Nations, and very excited to be here and be his teammate again and try to go on a run. He’s one of those guys that you absolutely want to play with and not against, and really looking forward to — I’m sure my jaw is really looking forward to playing with him. [Laughter]

Dave Hyde, South Florida Sun Sentinel. Just curious, is this the first time you’ve put on the Panthers gear this morning, and did you look in the mirror, and how did that go?

So, I, uh — first time I put anything Panthers on was last night. I was FaceTiming my kids, and we were about to hang up, and there was a hat on the table, and I was like, “Before you go, look at this,” and I put it on, and it — it was a weird feeling, but this is the first time I’ve been decked out, yeah, in the uniform. It’s starting to — reality is setting in here, and starting to feel like I’m part of the group. It’s been a whirlwind the last few days, so I’m, you know. Once you get in here, all the guys are around, you start to feel part of it.

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