Brad Marchand lands in trade rumours as Bruins approach him with controversial decision

Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand is playing out the final season of an eight-year, $49 million contract he signed in September of 2016 and is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in July.

Marchand’s pay rate – currently $6.125 million per season – could go in different directions and according to Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos, one of them could be the trade route.

In his latest Trade Board 2.0, Kypreos explained how the Bruins might prefer to re-sign Marchand on a year-to-year contract as he’ll turn 37 this spring. The insider believes the captain might want longer term on his extension and hints at other players who decided to sign elsewhere when they didn’t like their team’s offer.

“It’s notable that Marchand is represented by the same agency (Newport) as Steven Stamkos, who refused to take less value to stay in Tampa Bay and ended up signing elsewhere. Don’t expect Marchand to take less value than he feels he’s worth either.

“Even Zdeno Chara (at 43 years old) left the Bruins and played two more years in the NHL before calling it quits.

“In some ways, this could be a comparable scenario to Joe Pavelski. San Jose was at a crossroads and didn’t want to give him an extra year when he was 35 years old, so Pavelski signed a three-year deal with Dallas and was a highly productive player for them. In fact, he signed two more one-year deals with the Stars and retired at 40 years old. This is why Boston has to think long and hard about giving term to Marchand, their captain and second-highest scorer.”

And so with the big term question on the table, Kypreos feels he cannot remove Marchand from his trade watch. Especially if the Bruins continue to struggle to clinch a playoff spot, Marchand might be one huge trade chip in Boston.

“Though this is still heading towards an amicable resolution, if Boston’s hold on a playoff spot keeps loosening, Marchand will more and more become a situation of great interest.

“Until we hear about more firm negotiations between Marchand and the Bruins, he remains on this list.”

I’m sure that Marchand would much prefer to stick it out in Boston. He’s been a great captain and leader this season and could even agree to taking a discount on his next contract to allow GM Don Sweeney the luxury of adding more pieces for another push next summer.

However, he might want to have more than a year on his new deal…