Hours after re-signing Aaron Ekblad, the Florida Panthers saved one other integral piece of their Stanley Cup crew by re-signing Brad Marchand to a six-year contract extension, sources instructed ESPN’s Emily Kaplan.
Coming to phrases with Ekblad on an eight-year extension price $6.1 million yearly left the Panthers with what PuckPedia projected to be $4.9 million in wage cap area.
There was the chance that Marchand, 37, might have left the Panthers for a extra profitable provide elsewhere contemplating there have been groups that had greater than sufficient cap area to signal him.
As an alternative? Marchand, who arrived forward of the NHL commerce deadline from the Boston Bruins, seems as if he’ll stay in South Florida for the remainder of his profession.
Buying defenseman Seth Jones from the Chicago Blackhawks after which including Marchand have been two choices made by Panthers basic supervisor Invoice Zito with the intent of seeing the Panthers win a second consecutive Stanley Cup as a part of a run that now has included three straight Cup Last appearances.
Marchand, who was a pending UFA getting into the ultimate day earlier than free company begins Tuesday, used the 2025 postseason to additional cement why the Panthers and different groups all through the NHL would nonetheless search his companies. He scored 10 objectives and completed with 20 factors in 23 playoff video games.
For all of the contributions he made, his best got here in the course of the Cup Last collection in opposition to the Edmonton Oilers.
Marchand, who beforehand received a Cup with the Bruins again in 2011, opened the collection with a aim within the first three video games. That features the 2 objectives he scored within the Panthers’ 5-4 double-overtime win to tie the collection together with his second being the game-winning salvo.
He scored two extra objectives in a 5-2 win in Recreation 5 that allowed the Panthers to take a 3-1 collection lead earlier than returning to Dawn, Florida, the place they closed out the collection with an emphatic 5-1 win.
Capturing a consecutive title created questions on whether or not the Panthers can win a 3rd in a row. However there was the understanding that it is perhaps troublesome given there was solely a lot wage cap area to re-sign Conn Smythe winner Sam Bennett, Ekblad and Marchand.
Understanding there was an opportunity they may lose one, or extra, of them, Zito laid the muse to retain the trio. He started by signing Bennett to an eight-year contract price $8 million yearly on June 27 earlier than utilizing Monday to signal Ekblad and Marchand.