It was either sincere or an epic troll job. But given Brad Marchand’s history of being one of the NHL’s all-time great pests, it’s hard to believe it wasn’t the latter.
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Two days after he and the Florida Panthers won the Stanley Cup, Marchand took to his Instagram account on Thursday night to thank the NHL teams who traded or elected not to re-sign the players who formed most of the team’s roster this season.
During a team dinner at a South Florida restaurant, following two days of celebrations with the Cup, Marchand snapped photos of over a dozen Panthers players, along with the social media handles on the platform X of their former teams. Marchand notably thanked the Calgary Flames for trading forwards Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett, who won the Conn Smythe trophy as the most valuable player of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“Thanks for the MVP @NHLFLAMES,” Marchand wrote below a photo of Bennett.
The Sharks were not spared as Marchand also included, and thanked, the team, showing photos of ex-San Jose players Jonah Gadjovich and Nico Sturm.
In June 2023, Gadjovich was not given a qualifying offer by the Sharks, became a free agent, and signed with the Panthers in October of that year. The Panthers then signed Gadjovich to a two-year extension in March 2024.
On March 6, Sturm and a 2027 seventh-round selection were traded by the Sharks to the Panthers for a 2026 fourth-round pick. Sturm is a pending unrestricted free agent.
Brad Marchand doing Brad Marchand things pic.twitter.com/Y7CQ0TcWFI
— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) June 20, 2025
The players on the Panthers’ Cup-winning roster, except for drafted players Aleksander Barkov, Anton Lundell and Aaron Ekblad, were brought in via trade, free agency or waiver claim.
People are now wondering about the future of Marchand, one of the league’s most villainous – and talented — players and a pending UFA in his own right. Marchand, 37, had 10 goals and 10 assists in 23 playoff games, including six goals in the Cup final as the Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers in six games in the best-of-seven series.
Marchand has been suspended eight times in his 16-year NHL career. He’s also a four-time NHL All-Star with 980 points in 1,100 career NHL games.
Given that, and his impact in this year’s playoffs, there is speculation that Marchand could sign a three or four-year contract worth upwards of $8 million per season.
