When the Bruins shipped captain Brad Marchand out of town (and to the Panthers of all teams) at the 2025 trade deadline, the return on No. 63 for Don Sweeney's club was a seemingly mild one, with just a conditional second-round pick in 2027 sent to Boston.

But the good news for Bruins fans is that this springtime stretch of essentially rooting for the team that has knocked them out of the playoffs in back-to-back postseasons is halfway over.

Sent to Florida battling an injury sustained a week before the deadline, Marchand's conditions as they related to the Bruins were simple enough: For the second-round pick to become a first-round pick, the Panthers needed to win two rounds in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs and Marchand needed to play in at least 50 percent of the games.

Wednesday night was a massive step forward on that front, with Florida's ticket to round two officially punched with a series-clinching win over the Lightning in a Game 5 at Amalie Arena.

The obvious takeaway here is that another series victory win and there's a first-round pick coming to the Bruins. So long as Marchand appears in at least one game in round two should their second-round series go six games or seven games. If Marchand were to come down with a mysterious illness or injury and miss the second round, the Bruins would still see the second-round pick Florida sent to the B's become a first so long as Florida won the series in four or five games.

The Panthers will play the winner of the first-round series between the Maple Leafs and Senators, which entering Thursday is at 3-2 for the Maple Leafs, but with the Sens having won two straight games after beginning the series in an 0-3 hole. The Panthers went 1-2-0 against the Senators during the regular season, and 3-1-0 against the Leafs.

Marchand, meanwhile, has been a productive weapon for the Panthers on their third line this postseason, with four assists through five games.

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