Brad Marchand will not play again before Friday afternoon’s NHL trade deadline. Boston Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco said Tuesday that the captain is “week-to-week” with the upper-body injury he suffered Saturday in Pittsburgh.
Marchand got tripped by Penguins defenseman P.O Joseph as he went into the corner, ended up in a vulnerable position, and wound up hitting his head on the dasher as Joseph checked him. Pressed on whether it was a head injury or concussion, Sacco declined to characterize Marchand’s injury as anything other than “upper body.”
It’s yet another blow for a Bruins team that is desperately trying to hang in the playoff race, as Marchand joins Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm on the shelf. Entering Tuesday night’s game against the Nashville Predators, the Bruins are still just two points out of the final wild card spot, but actually have to jump over four teams (the Red Wings, Rangers, Senators and Canadiens). They have also played a game or two more than everyone they’re chasing.
The Bruins know that replacing Marchand – both on and off the ice – won’t be easy.
“We're of course going to miss him, but it's also an opportunity for all of us, individually and together as a team, to have everyone kind of step up and have a little more responsibility to try to fill that,” Charlie Coyle said. “Because it's not one guy that’s gonna come out and be Marchand. No one can do that, but we can all take another little step together.
“Leadership-wise, it can be kind of spread throughout, and on the ice too, the way we play and the way we gotta come out and the focus that we gotta bring too. When you're missing pieces like that – he brings so many different elements to the game that we're going to miss. So, like I said, no one's going to be him individually, but together we can kind of all take a little piece of that tonight and help out that way.”
Of course, the other part of this discussion is how Marchand’s injury affects general manager Don Sweeney’s deadline plans. The selling officially commenced Tuesday afternoon with the Bruins sending Trent Frederic and Max Jones to Edmonton in exchange for a second-round pick, fourth-round pick and defense prospect Max Wanner.
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Marchand, like Frederic, is a pending unrestricted free agent. His name has also surfaced in plenty of trade rumors, but he and Sweeney have both said they would like to get an extension done that keeps Marchand in Boston moving forward.
They don’t necessarily need to get that extension done by Friday, but they do probably at least need to know that they are on the path towards a deal. If there’s an unbridgeable gap between the two sides – whether it’s years, money or both – that’s when a trade would become a real possibility. Even with Marchand banged up, the Bruins could be looking at a first-round pick plus more in return.
Grading the Frederic trade
Before Frederic got hurt, I had been hearing that the most likely return in a trade was a second-round pick. Well, even after his injury, the Bruins got not only a second, but also a fourth-round pick and a decent prospect. All they had to throw in was Max Jones (who wasn’t a fit here) and salary retention (which they can afford).
I’ll give Sweeney a solid B+ for this trade. It does make you wonder if a healthy Frederic playing a little bit better could have fetched a first-round pick, but he’s not healthy and he wasn’t playing better, so it is what it is. You take what you can get.
Getting back into the second round in 2025 is big. The Bruins have made just one pick in the first two rounds in the last two years. They do not own their own 2025 second-round pick, which went to Washington in the 2023 trade that brought Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway to Boston.
Now they once again have picks in the first three rounds this year, with the possibility of acquiring more if they sell other pieces. And, this second-round pick was originally St. Louis’, so it should actually be higher than if it were Edmonton’s.
As Matt Porter of the Boston Globe points out, for as much criticism as Sweeney’s drafting gets, his track record in the second round has actually been quite good.
Carlo wants to stay
Another Bruin whose name has popped up in trade rumors is veteran defenseman Brandon Carlo. Carlo has two years left on his contract with a $4.1 million cap hit. The Bruins do not need to trade him now, but they are reportedly listening. If someone blows them away with an offer, they could pull the trigger.
It’s not the first time Carlo’s name has popped up in trade rumors, but with the Bruins open to selling for the first time in decades, it does feel more realistic than it has in the past. Carlo acknowledged the uneasiness around this deadline, while reiterating that he hopes to remain a Bruin for years to come.
“You never like that feeling of uncertainty,” Carlo said. “I don't think anybody does. Nobody really likes change, either. But for us, and the approach that we've had, including myself, is just going day by day, contributing to this group and being the best part of it as I can be. I've obviously loved being a Boston Bruin and want to continue to be a Boston Bruin, but for our group in general, it has been different than years past, when we're kind of adding to go for that push.
“This year is a little different, but I still have a lot of faith in this group, the guys that we have within this room, and I wouldn't want to be battling with anybody else. So, for me and this group, I think it's just kind of about going day by day and controlling the things that you can control. Outside of that, there's some hard realities that might have to be faced, but you kind of cross those bridges when you come to them.”
Any package for Carlo – at least one that Sweeney would think about accepting – probably starts with a first-round pick, or a premium asset in that value range.