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Panthers rumors: ’50/50′ chance Brad Marchand re-signs in Florida
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- Panthers rumors: ’50/50′ chance Brad Marchand re-signs in Florida
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The post Panthers rumors: '50/50′ chance Brad Marchand re-signs in Florida appeared first on ClutchPoints .
Once thought to be a certain departure from the Florida Panthers ' roster this offseason, Brad Marchand is now viewed more as a coin flip to re-sign with Florida .
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Traded to the Panthers at the deadline by the Boston Bruins , Marchand embraced his new home with open arms, bringing the same highly skilled, highly antagonistic play style down south, which proved to be a great success. Marchand lit it up in the playoffs , scoring 10 goals and 10 assists en route to a Stanley Cup win, the second of his career.
Now that the three-month partnership worked so well, both sides seem open to the possibility of continuing it.
"If I were to rank the probability of all three major pending unrestricted free agents on the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers sticking around, it would be: 1) Sam Bennett, 2) Brad Marchand , and 3) Aaron Ekblad ," The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun wrote.
"What's surprising here, to some degree, is Marchand. I believe even a few weeks ago, he thought he was going to market , partly because he was the new guy and Florida had so many players to re-sign. But his outstanding Cup Final and perfect fit on the Panthers have made him someone Florida will try its best to keep."
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LeBrun said the best way for Florida to alleviate some of the cap squeeze, if it signed Marchand, would be to sign him to a longer deal, spreading out the money over more years and reducing the AAV in the process.
The only concern with Marchand really is the age. He is 37 years old, will turn 38 next postseason, and has 1,110 regular-season and 180 playoff games on him. Over the past four seasons, Marchand has averaged 74 games played and has averaged nearly 19 minutes of ice time per game. In the playoffs this year, Marchand saw the least amount of ice time of his career (16:40 per game), a credit to the Panthers' roster construction and Marchand's ability to make his shifts count.
A career-long Bruin until March, Marchand just finished up an eight-year, $49 million contract ($6.125 million AAV), which began in 2016. The Athletic's Chris Johnston reported three weeks ago, citing league sources, that the NHL veteran is believed to be in position to "command as much as $8 million (AAV) on his next contract."
Related: Panthers rumors: Florida working to re-sign both Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand
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