Brad Marchand became the second Florida Panther to publicly state he wants to remain with the back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions.

Hours after Conn Smythe winner Sam Bennett emphatically told a crowd at a Miami nightclub that he’s not leaving, Marchand had a message to general manager Bill Zito:

“Give me a contract.”

The pending unrestricted free agent was a key member of the Panthers’ Cup run, scoring 10 goals and 20 points in 23 playoff games with Florida. He received seven first-place votes in Conn Smythe voting, narrowly missing out on the award to Bennett.

“We knew we had something special,” Marchand said of the Panthers. “It’s such an incredible culture and everyone that’s come in here, it’s like we’ve been here a lot longer than a few months. It’s a family. Guys love each other in this room. You buy into it immediately. Guys embrace you. It’s incredible.”

The 37-year-old is the No. 3 free agent on TSN’s top-50 UFA’s list, only behind Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner and Bennett. 

Marchand is coming off an eight-year, $49 million contract he signed with the Boston Bruins in 2016 that paid him $6.13M per season. TSN’s Frankie Corrado projects the Halifax N.S., native to earn $8.1 million annually on his next contract after scoring 23 goals and 53 points in 71 regular-season games split between the Bruins and Panthers.

“I truly don’t think we win a Stanley Cup without him,” Bennett said of Marchand. “His leadership, his will to win, it’s inspiring. I was telling him before every game, ‘We’re going to follow you.’ And we did. He was a dog every night.”

The Panthers have $19 million in cap space with Bennett, Marchand, and defenceman Aaron Ekblad headlining the list of pending UFA’s. Zito said earlier this week that he thinks the team can retain its trio of free agents.

Drafted 71st overall by the Bruins in 2006, Marchand has 424 goals and 980 points in 1,100 career games split between the Bruins and Panthers.

Marchand’s best statistical season came during the 2018-19 campaign when he recorded 36 goals and 100 points in 79 games. He was a two-time first-team all-star (2017, 2021), and a two-time second-team all-star (2019, 2020) during his time with the Bruins.

He represented Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February in a first-place finish. He also represented his country at the 2016 World Championship and World Cup of Hockey, taking home gold at both events.