Brad Marchand‘s contract has been a hot topic of discussion lately. During the Boston Bruins’ 4-3 overtime win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman mentioned that Marchand and the Bruins were nearing a three-year contract extension to keep the captain in Boston. This report was refuted shortly after the game with Marchand stating that this information was false.
“Elliotte likes talking about me this week,” said Marchand following his overtime game-winner on Saturday. “I mentioned this before, I’m not big about talking about contract stuff in the media. I’m not going to do it. But that report from Elliotte is false. I am not going to talk about my contract stuff with the media. If I was to sign a three-year extension, it would be signed. Elliotte is just wrong there.”
This appears to be a gripe between Marchand and the media rather than any real tension over his contract status. By all accounts, Marchand and the Bruins seem to have as good a relationship as possible between player and team and there should be no reason for concern based on these comments—especially given Marchand’s point that if an extension were imminent, it would already be signed.
To Friedman’s credit, he later addressed this situation on 32 Thoughts: The Podcast alongside his co-host Kyle Bukauskas.
“He’s the source,” Friedman said. “There’s no better source on this one than Marchand since he’s the guy who’s actually going to sign the contract. So if he says at this point in time that I am wrong or the story is false…then I just have to eat it. He knows where things stand.”
While Friedman deferred to Marchand’s take on this situation, he’d also provided some context to reassure Bruins fans that things weren’t looking bleak.
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Friedman Believes Bruins and Marchand Will Reach a Contract Extension
“I’ll say this, I don’t believe contract talks have broken off between the Bruins and Marchand. I don’t think this is a situation where they’ve stopped discussing it or they’re no longer moving forward in attempts to sign an extension, so I’m not concerned about that,” Friedman said. “What someone said to me on Sunday morning was, if you’re going to be wrong on this one, he thinks I’m going to be wrong on term. There’s a possibility, he thinks, the Bruins would prefer two years instead of three, and we’ll see where we go here. Long term, I think this is going to get done.”
Though Friedman may not have been right about the terms of this contract, there are few, if any individuals in the world of insiders better than Friedman at their job. If Friedman feels like this contract gets done, and if Marchand has aspirations of remaining with the Bruins, then there really shouldn’t be any reason to believe this won’t get done at some point.
For Marchand, Saturday was a significant game that further etched his name into Bruins history as one of the all-time greats. With his overtime winner, his first goal of the season and first since Game 4 of the first round of last season’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, Marchand broke a tie with Phil Esposito and claimed third-place all-time for game-winning goals in Bruins history. This was a much-needed goal for the captain and the Bruins are hopeful that this will be a turning point for No. 63 who underwent three offseason surgeries.
Marchand is in the final year of an eight-year contract that paid him $49 million and $6.125 million annually. While it’s unclear what an extension will look like between both sides, the 36-year-old should sign an extension with the team at some point to hopefully allow him the opportunity to retire as a member of the Bruins.