Marchand Trade
Throughout the recent seasons, the Florida Panthers have created quite a rivalry with the Boston Bruins. During the 2023 playoffs, the Panthers came from behind to beat the Bruins after their historic best season. During the 2024 playoffs, Sam Bennett had a controversial hit on Brad Marchand (the Bruins captain) prior to the Panthers winning their first Stanley Cup. The following season, Bennett and Marchand joined forces to win the Four Nations Tournament for Team Canada. All of this was leading up to the most notable trade of the 2025 Trade Deadline where the Panthers acquired Marchand.
Trade Deadline Day is always interesting because it’s a true test of adaptability. We don’t usually get much heads up when something was going to happen. I learned we were getting Marchand when a major hockey reporter posted about it. Quickly, I rallied our social media, video, and creative teams to make sure we were ready for the announcement. We brainstormed additional fun content, but quickly pivoted when we got the direction to make sure we handle everything with the utmost respect given that this was the Bruins’ former captain who had played there for 17 seasons.
Adaptability continued to be the name of the game because we weren’t given more than an hours notice before Marchand’s introductory press conference. I had other content planned for these times, but I would always pivot to the Marchand content because I knew that the timeliness of that would outperform anything else.
This was a case where knowing the greater narrative that this trade existed within allowed me to really play into what I knew would pop. Thus the first time Marchand was on the ice as a Florida Panther, I made sure to get a picture with him with Sam Bennett. That picture was quickly spread around the internet as all of the quotetweets demonstrate. This was a prime example of how knowing the audience and what they want can really help content succeed.
