The Boston Bruins are not used to being in a position where selling might be their best option ahead of the NHL trade deadline, but that's the reality for the Original Six franchise on Feb. 12.
The Bruins are technically only one point out of a wild card playoff berth in the Eastern Conference, but MoneyPuck's model still gives the B's just a 14.9 percent chance of reaching the postseason.
If the Bruins fall further in the standings before the March 7 trade deadline, moving some players for draft picks and/or prospects would make sense.
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One player who can become a free agent this offseason is Brad Marchand. The Bruins captain has spent his entire career in Boston and ranks among the best players in franchise history. He might even make the Hockey Hall of Fame at some point.
Marchand was asked this week on the What Chaos! podcast about the possibility of getting traded, and he admitted it would be weird.
“Obviously, it would be very weird,” Marchand told hosts D.J. Bean and Pete Blackburn when asked how he would feel if he got traded. “I think I would feel very weird, probably a little lost. But I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it before. And I don’t really think about it, because it’s not something that I really see happening.”
"I think I'd feel very weird...probably a little lost...I don't really think about it cause it's not something that I really see happening"
— What Chaos! (@WhatChaosShow) February 11, 2025
Brad Marchand on the possibility of being traded by the Bruins 🏒 pic.twitter.com/sFtsiSpQeV
Marchand understands why trade rumors exist, but he's "not worried" about them.
“Obviously when things aren’t going well with your group or going the way that I think it was expected to go, that’s what happens, right? These conversations start to come up more and more in the media, and articles come out and then all it takes is one article, or one person making a comment on TV or the radio or a podcast, and then it kind of takes off from there,” Marchand said of rumors.
He added: "I try not to get caught up in it. You can’t worry about things you can’t control and that you don’t have a part in. But yeah, I could see — with the way that on paper it looks, at this time of year, that’s what people do. They start looking at potential outcomes and stuff like that.”
Marchand wants to be a lifer with the Bruins.
“My goal is to play here forever,” Marchand said. “I love it here, and my family obviously loves it here. It's all I know, and what I love most about it is that the expectations that are put on the group by — internally, just from management, ownership, from the team within — like the expectation to be good every year is what you want to be part of.
“You want to be part of a winning team. You never want to go to a team that’s rebuilding — that’s not enjoyable hockey. You want to be playing for something meaningful every year. We’ve had years where we miss playoffs, and we’re fighting for our lives going down the stretch in a playoff race like we are now.
“Those are some of the best years that you have, because every game is meaningful, and it’s like playoff hockey for a long stretch. A little adversity is good for a group. But yeah, that’s what I love about being here. They want to win, and that’s what you want.”
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The Bruins have 25 games left to save their season and extend their league-leading playoff appearance streak to nine years. Marchand made his Bruins debut in the 2009-10 campaign, and the team has missed the playoffs just twice during that span, while reaching the Stanley Cup Final three times, including a 2011 championship.
Trading Marchand doesn't make much sense unless a team is willing to massively overpay. The 35-year-old veteran is still a very good two-way forward, and one of the few upper-tier offensive players on the roster. The Bruins have struggled to score all season, and trading Marchand away would make that problem even worse.
The Bruins don't need to tear down the roster and rebuild. They just need to re-tool a bit in the offseason.