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Brad Marchand, Boston Bruins (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

Bruins’ Draft Future Tied to Panthers’ Success

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Brandon Share-Cohen | Last updated May 5, 2025 12:35 PM ET

Monday will be a busy day for Boston Bruins fans with the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery set to take place at 7:00pm EST. If you had told fans this time last year that the Bruins would be competing for the first overall pick instead of the Stanley Cup, it’s unlikely that anybody would have believed you. Despite this, the Bruins do have an 8.5% chance of moving into the No. 1 spot, which would be the first time the team would have that distinction since they selected Joe Thornton first overall in 1997. Once the Draft Lottery concludes, however, all eyes will shift to the first game of the second-round series between the Florida Panthers and the Toronto Maple Leafs—a matchup in which Bruins fans should have strong, albeit conflicted, rooting interests.

If it was hard to imagine the Bruins hoping for the first overall pick instead of competing in the playoffs this season, it would have been borderline inconceivable to imagine that a series featuring the Panthers and Maple Leafs, arguably the Bruins’ two biggest rivalries of the last decade, would feature Brad Marchand and Brandon Carlo on opposing benches. Still, with the Bruins and general manager Don Sweeney opting to sell at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline, this is the reality that the Bruins and their fans find themselves in today.

The Conditions of the Marchand Trade

While it may be difficult for Bruins fans to cheer for the Panthers in any capacity, given their recent history, it’s important to remember the conditions of the trade that sent Marchand to Florida. Though Sweeney generally did very well with his trades at the Deadline this season, the Marchand deal stood out like a sore thumb. Rather than getting a king’s ransom for the team’s captain—a player who wanted to stay with the team for his whole career—the Bruins only received a conditional second-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft. The Bruins also retained half of Marchand’s salary.

The conditional second-round pick included in this deal will convert into a first-round pick in either 2027 or 2028 if the Panthers win two rounds in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs and Marchand appears in at least 50% of their playoff games.

While the return was unquestionably low, other factors were at play here, including the Bruins doing right by Marchand in some capacity and allowing him to play for a team with legitimate Stanley Cup aspirations; the Panthers are still the defending champions from a season ago. As it stands, the Panthers have played five playoff games and Marchand has participated in all of them. If the Panthers can come out on top in this series and qualify for the Eastern Conference Final with Marchand maintaining his participation level, the Bruins would gain another asset to help replenish their pipeline or accelerate the retool.

Again, cheering for the Panthers is as foreign a concept as it gets for Bruins fans; nobody is saying it’s going to be easy. What does make it easier, at least, is that the Panthers are playing against the Maple Leafs, a team Bruins fans have no qualms rooting against. It may not be ideal, but the Panthers could do the Bruins a huge favor this series—and if nothing else, they give fans in Boston something meaningful to root for after their own NHL playoff hopes ended before they even began.