Dave Hyde: Bring it on! Marchand's Magic, all goals and gags, has Panthers one win from Cup.

Dave Hyde, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Jun 16, 2025

Published in Hockey

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Back on March 7, a half-hour before the NHL trade deadline, Paul Maurice went down the hall to congratulate the Florida Panthers' front office on a good day. Their work was done, the coach figured.

“What about Brad Marchand?” general manager Bill Zito said.

Maurice saw he wasn’t joking. And he knew of Zito’s ability to pull off big surprises. See: Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett.

“When he fired that out, there was a bit of a pause,’’ Maurice said. “His face was serious. Everyone nodded.”

Sometimes it happens just the way you hope in sports. The Panthers can repeat as Stanley Cup champs in Sunrise with a win Tuesday night in part because of that deadline work. It wasn’t just Marchand.

Defenseman Seth Jones, acquired from Chicago, leads the Panthers in ice time these playoffs. Together, Jones and Marchand make the biggest talent grab at the trade deadline in NHL history.

Marchand’s game is just easier to notice when he leaves Edmonton defenders spinning, as he did twice for goals in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday. At 37, Marchand has energized a team and seemingly re-energized his career. Six goals to lead this final series and 20 points in the 22 playoff games. He also has two overtime winners — a pivotal Game 3 against Toronto and Game 1 against Edmonton.

Plus, Marchand brings what can be called The Milkshake Factor, that rare personality that helps a great team remain a fun team. Players mockingly shoot plastic rats at the King Rat after wins. They constantly laugh at his one-liners, like when he was asked what the young Marchand of 2011 would tell this older Marchand.

“Man, that guy’s good-looking,’’ he said.

Then there’s the milkshakes. He talked of having a milkshake — a Dairy Queen Blizzard — between periods one playoff game. That was a joke of some players making an ice-cream run on the eve of that game. Now it’s a regular pre-game trip. And continual gag.

“Having a milkshake,’’ Marchand said while having a protein drink after scoring the winning goal in Game 1 against Edmonton.

It’s been this way — goals and gags — since Marchand arrived from Boston in South Florida and opened his introductory news conference with, “Do I have a tan yet?”

The centerpiece to all the fun is a veteran game and mind. He awarded the game puck after the Panthers’ Game 3 win that ended in a barroom brawl with Edmonton. Any of the team’s stars could have got it. He gave it to fourth-liner Jonah Gadjovich for his winning fight.

“This guy’s an animal,’’ he said.

Marchand is the best, in-season trade for a South Florida team — at least on a short-term basis. Darren Daulton transformed the 1997 Marlins into a championship culture. The Miami Heat added good parts like Andre Igoudala and Jae Crowder to get to NBA Finals.

No one has produced big moments like Marchand. Jones will prove a better long-term trade considering he’s 30 and signed up for four more seasons. That gets into the unfortunate side of Marchand’s great play: He might be pricing the Panthers out of any chance of re-signing him.

How much do you pay a soon-to-be 38-year-old? He had two surgeries last offseason and an injury that kept him from starting with the Panthers for a few weeks. He was only available because Boston wouldn’t re-sign him to a deal at a reported $6.9 million a year. Do they wish they had now? Are they happy with the Panthers’ first-round pick, the 31st or 32nd overall?

Now reports are he’ll make more than $8 million a year. Now, too, the question is whether Marchand or Sam Bennett will get the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs’ top performer if the Panthers win Tuesday night (my vote is Bennett, who leads the league with 15 postseason goals and the Panthers with 22 points in addition to his physical play).

What matters now is getting one more game, one more win for the title. These Panthers know the difficulty of this game from last year. Marchand has won and lost finals in Boston, too.

“You’ve got to be in the moment,’’ he said. “If you start looking behind or ahead, it’s a dangerous game to play. I think with the amount of situations this team has been through — you look at last year being up 3-0 and battling back in Game 7, then you obviously draw from that.

“I think we realize how special of a group we have, and we just seem to be able to have fun.”

His teammates realize who he is, too. After two highlight-reel goals in Game 5 Saturday night, Marchand was late getting back to the locker room due to a TV interview. When he arrived, the other Panthers gave him what his presence deserves since the trade deadline.

A standing ovation.