Brad Marchand Contract - 8 yrs $49M SIGNED

jk333

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Brad Marchand is an unrestricted free agent at season's end and the Bruins may miss the playoffs. Should the Bruins sign Marchand to a contract extension, trade him, or assess at the trade deadline?

This situation is similar to Loui Eriksson and they can't afford to lose another asset without compensation. Especially if the master plan is a rebuild to begin competing in 2018-2019. When they traded Milan Lucic, the return of two first round draft picks and Colin Miller was excellent. Comparatively, Eriksson reportedly didn't fetch even a single first round offer at the trade deadline. It may be dangerous to go into the season with Marchand unsigned; it will be difficult for management to trade him if the team is in the playoffs at the trade deadline.

It's possible the Bruins have reached an agreement and are waiting until after the World Cup of Hockey to announce. If so, is that what most would prefer? What salary would be acceptable?
 
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TFP

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It's not rational, but I'd pay him pretty much whatever he wants. He's an elite winger in all of hockey at this point.
 

TheRealness

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7/49 was what I was thinking. They need to just pay him, even if it takes 7/56 though.

With Vatrano's foot surgery, and who knows what else with the young guys, the Bruins need him. Pay the man his money.
 

TFP

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Marchand signed 8 yrs just over 6M AAV per the sports hub.
 

BoSoxFink

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That's a fucking fantastic deal. They did something right for once. A little over 6 million a year is much better than any of us could have hoped for. And, although he will be 37 at the end of the deal, my hope would be that 6 million won't be much in the NHL at that point in time. Good news here for once from down on Causeway street.
 

FL4WL3SS

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8 years is a LONG time for a 28 year old. Not a huge fan of this, to be honest.

This front office continues to baffle me - they're willing to sign Marchand until he's 36, but weren't willing to go that far with Loui.
 

jsinger121

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8 years is a LONG time for a 28 year old. Not a huge fan of this, to be honest.

This front office continues to baffle me - they're willing to sign Marchand until he's 36, but weren't willing to go that far with Loui.
I'd rather a 6 year deal but I am not going to quibble on this one.
 

cshea

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He's probably the 4th or 5th best LW in hockey behind Ovechkin, Benn and Hall. He's elite. If he reached the open market, he's probably getting well north of $7mm AAV. This is a great deal for the Bruins.

Edit: Custance is reporting NMC for the first 5 years, then a limited no-trade the final 3. Nice get there.
 

Toe Nash

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Seems good to me. If they end up doing a full rebuild in the next few years that's a tradeable contract (for some decent return) in all likelihood (any kind of NMC aside). If they don't, he should be worth the money.
 

TheRealness

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He's probably the 4th or 5th best LW in hockey behind Ovechkin, Benn and Hall. He's elite. If he reached the open market, he's probably getting well north of $7mm AAV. This is a great deal for the Bruins.

Edit: Custance is reporting NMC for the first 5 years, then a limited no-trade the final 3. Nice get there.
Very happy with the deal. Might be a year too long than the ideal, but I never expected to get him signed for less than $7mm per year.

I'm impressed with Donnie's work here. Great deal.
 

RIFan

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Very happy they got this done. 8 years is probably too long, but the obvious trade off is the AAV. I could easily see his AAV going towards $8M in free agency if he has the monster year I expect him to have.
 

burstnbloom

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Wow, Sweeney is pretty good at the contracts as long as they aren't grit first D. 8 years is a long time but $6.15 is a very manageable cap hit as the cap will go up over the next 8 years.
 

lexrageorge

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8 years is a LONG time for a 28 year old. Not a huge fan of this, to be honest.

This front office continues to baffle me - they're willing to sign Marchand until he's 36, but weren't willing to go that far with Loui.
I mean, I absolutely know I'm going to be in the minority here. I was personally hoping they'd sell high on him.
I'm guessing that the FO decided that Marchand was simply more valuable to the team than Loui. If we believe the rumors, we do know that the team tried to resign Eriksson during the season, but we don't know what was offered. Maybe he was willing to stay in Boston only if the money/term was markedly better than what he got from Vancouver.

As for "selling high", I don't have a lot of confidence we would have been happy with the return. Probably a 3rd line forward and another first rounder for them to use on a guy that's 4+ years from being ready (sarcasm trigger warning).
 

FL4WL3SS

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I don't think it was an either/or situation (Marchand v. Loui). The only reason I brought up Loui was because in one instance they were not willing to go to mid-late 30s on one guy, but are completely willing to do that with another (although I guess they already proved that out by signing Backes to the contract that they did).

I'm just bitter about it, I should probably let it go at this point.
 

RG33

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This is an incredibly good signing at that AAV.

The 8 years doesn't matter -- it is a "get" for Marchand's side for signing for $6.125 AAV -- they'll hopefully get 5 elite years out of him at a bargain price. Well done GM Sweeney.
 

BigMike

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Really good signing, I thought a home town discount would be 7/49. This was rumored a couple days back and no one took it seriously because it seemed way to low.

It is amazing, and now there is a real path for us to see #63 in the rafters someday
 

Reardon's Beard

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No doubt in my mind he wants to play with Bergy the rest of the way and this was a big factor. The money works, comoft zone for him, and an elite winger that is approaching the peak of his game. Nothing not to like here - great signing.