SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Brad Marchand sure made himself at home in Florida. Now he's a two-time Stanley Cup champion.
Getting Marchand at the trade deadline from Boston for what ended up being a single first-round pick turned out to be a genius move by Florida as he scored six often timely goals against Edmonton in the final while providing vocal and physical leadership every shift.
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Florida Panthers centerBrad Marchand (63) celebrates with teammates after his goal against the Edmonton Oilers during the first period in Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final in Edmonton, Alberta, Saturday, June 14, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)
Florida Panthers' Brad Marchand (63) chases Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid (97) during the first period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final in Sunrise, Fla., Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Florida Panthers center Brad Marchand skates with the Stanley Cup after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Florida Panthers' Brad Marchand (63) raises the Stanely Cup after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final in Sunrise, Fla., Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
It culminated with a victory in Game 6 on Tuesday night that left him grinning on the ice with the rest of the Panthers.
“Everything has to line up perfectly,” Marchand said. "My situation’s a perfect example of that. Like, I shouldn’t have been here. But it worked out, and I’m enjoying the hell out of it.”
The 37-year-old winger had wondered if he'd be returning to his roots as a fourth-liner but instead had a major impact on the third line alongside young Finns Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen.
“I truly don’t think we win a Stanley Cup without him,” leading playoff goal-scorer and Conn Smythe Trophy winner Sam 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.”
Marchand hoisted the Cup again 14 years after winning it with the Bruins in 2011 against Vancouver. Among his signature moments, the Nova Scotia native scored two highlight-reel goals in Game 5 at Edmonton to put the Panthers ahead in a heavyweight final.
“He’s been amazing for us all playoffs,” teammate Matthew Tkachuk said. “He seems to keep finding another gear. The more important the game, the better he is.”
Marchand said he felt at home with his new team.
“We just had that fire. We knew we had something special,” he said. “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.”
Getting Marchand was an 11th-hour move. Coach Paul Maurice was about to leave the team’s practice facility a half-hour before the deadline when general manager Bill Zito came out of his office and said, “What about Brad Marchand?”
“If he had asked that a year and a half ago, I would’ve thought he was joking,” Maurice said. “But he’s been able to find these players that we didn’t think were possible and he’s been able to get these deals done. When he fired that out, I think there was a bit of a pause, his face was serious, everybody nodded and that’s it.”
Marchand for what turned out to be a first-round pick seems like a steal, even if he departs as a free agent this summer. He turned out to be an ideal fit and was a big reason the Panthers went back to back.
“He just happened to be the perfect style of player to take that line to a completely different level, and that’s where our need was,” Maurice said. “What Bill has always done here in my experience, he’s identified the need and filled the hole.”
On the ice, Marchand was a breath of fresh air and maybe the final piece of the puzzle. He also brought his trademark mouth to the equation, always chatting guys up and filling the void for noise when necessary.
“With Brad, the whole room knows, so there’s no secrets of what he is as a player, as a competitor,” Zito said. “Getting to know him a little bit more as a human, he’s more special than I could have imagined on that front as a teammate and as a character human. From that standpoint, it was like frosting on the cake.”
Will he be back?
“We’ll see what happens here soon," Marchand said before heading off to celebrate.
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Florida Panthers centerBrad Marchand (63) celebrates with teammates after his goal against the Edmonton Oilers during the first period in Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final in Edmonton, Alberta, Saturday, June 14, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)
Florida Panthers' Brad Marchand (63) chases Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid (97) during the first period in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final in Sunrise, Fla., Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Florida Panthers center Brad Marchand skates with the Stanley Cup after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Florida Panthers' Brad Marchand (63) raises the Stanely Cup after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final in Sunrise, Fla., Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Thousands of people marched in Minneapolis Saturday to protest the fatal shooting of a woman by a federal immigration officer there and the shooting of two protesters in Portland, Oregon, as Minnesota leaders urged demonstrators to remain peaceful.
The Minneapolis gathering was one of hundreds of protests planned in towns and cities across the country over the weekend. It came in a city on edge since the killing of Renee Good on Wednesday by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
“We’re all living in fear right now,” said Meghan Moore, a mother of two from Minneapolis who joined the protest Saturday. “ICE is creating an environment where nobody feels safe and that’s unacceptable.”
On Friday night, a protest outside a Minneapolis hotel that attracted about 1,000 people turned violent as demonstrators threw ice, snow and rocks at officers, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Saturday. One officer suffered minor injuries after being struck with a piece of ice, O’Hara said. Twenty-nine people were cited and released, he said.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stressed that while most protests have been peaceful, those who cause damage to property or put others in danger will be arrested. He faulted “agitators that are trying to rile up large crowds.”
“This is what Donald Trump wants,” Frey said of the president who has demanded massive immigration enforcement efforts in several U.S. cities. “He wants us to take the bait.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz echoed the call for peace.
“Trump sent thousands of armed federal officers into our state, and it took just one day for them to kill someone,” Walz posted on social media. “Now he wants nothing more than to see chaos distract from that horrific action. Don’t give him what he wants.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says its deployment of immigration officers in the Twin Cities is its biggest ever immigration enforcement operation. Trump's administration has said both shootings were acts of self-defense against drivers who “weaponized” their vehicles to attack officers.
Connor Maloney said he was attending the Minneapolis protest to support his community and because he's frustrated with the immigration crackdown.
“Almost daily I see them harassing people,” he said. “It’s just sickening that it’s happening in our community around us.”
Steven Eubanks, 51, said he felt compelled to attend a protest in Durham, North Carolina, on Saturday because of the “horrifying” killing of Good in Minneapolis.
“We can’t allow it,” Eubanks said. “We have to stand up.”
Indivisible, a social movement organization that formed to resist the Trump administration, said hundreds of protests were scheduled in Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Florida and other states.
In Minneapolis, a coalition of migrant rights groups organized the demonstration that began in a park about half a mile from the residential neighborhood where the 37-year-old Good was shot on Wednesday. Marchers carried signs calling for ICE to leave and voiced support for Good and immigrants.
A couple of miles away, just as the demonstration began, an Associated Press photographer witnessed heavily armed officers — at least one in Border Patrol uniform — approach a person who had been following them. Two of the agents had long guns out when they ordered the person to stop following them, telling him it was his “first and final warning.”
The agents eventually drove onto the interstate without detaining the driver.
Protests held in the neighborhood have been largely peaceful, in contrast to the violence that hit Minneapolis in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Near the airport, some confrontations erupted on Thursday and Friday between smaller groups of protesters and officers guarding the federal building used as a base for the Twin Cities crackdown.
O’Hara said city police officers have responded to calls about cars abandoned because their drivers have been apprehended by immigration enforcement. In one case, the car was left in park and in another case a dog was left in the vehicle.
He said immigration enforcement activities are happening “all over the city” and that 911 callers have been alerting authorities to ICE activity, arrests and abandoned vehicles.
The Trump administration has deployed thousands of federal officers to Minnesota under a sweeping new crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents. More than 2,000 officers were taking part.
Some officers moved in after abruptly pulling out of Louisiana, where they were part of another operation that started last month and was expected to last until February.
Three congresswomen from Minnesota attempted to tour the ICE facility in the Minneapolis federal building on Saturday morning and were initially allowed to enter but then told they had to leave about 10 minutes later.
U.S, Reps. Ilhan Omar, Kelly Morrison and Angie Craig accused ICE agents of obstructing members of Congress from fulfilling their duty to oversee operations there.
“They do not care that they are violating federal law,” Craig said after being turned away.
A federal judge last month temporarily blocked the Trump administration from enforcing policies that limit congressional visits to immigration facilities. The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by 12 members of Congress who sued in Washington, D.C. to challenge ICE’s amended visitor policies after they were denied entry to detention facilities.
Associated Press writers Allen Breed in Durham, North Carolina, and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed.
People place flowers for a memorial at the site where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
Protesters gather during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Friday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
Protesters gather during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Demonstrators march outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Demonstrators march outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Rep. Kelly Morrison D-Minn., center, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., second from the right, and Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., far right, at the Bishop Whipple Federal Building, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds a news conference as Police Chief Brian O'Hara listens, on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
Protesters gather during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Federal agents stand outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building as protesters gather in Minneapolis, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Federal agents stand outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building as protesters gather in Minneapolis, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Protesters gather during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Federal agents look on as protesters gather during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
A woman holds a sign for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis earlier in the week, as people gather outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
Two people sit in the street with their hands up in front of Minnesota State Patrol during a protest and noise demonstration calling for an end to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Minnesota State Patrol officers are seen during a protest and noise demonstration calling for an end to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Minnesota State Patrol officers are seen during a protest and noise demonstration calling for an end to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Two people sit in the street holding hands in front of Minnesota State Patrol during a protest and noise demonstration calling for an end to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
