Brad Marchand: If you are into the hockey culture, then you definitely already know that you can either love him or loathe him. There is no middle ground. But you can’t not know him. He is that pest that every team in the league covets. He is that player whose words and gloves drop faster than the puck. It has been that way in the NHL since 2009, until now, that is.

The NHL trade deadline brought in many surprises back in March, but the biggest of them all was the Marchand trade. From a sixteen-year-old storied tenure as a Bruin that comprised more than a thousand games to being the heart of Florida’s offensive line-up in just a few months after being traded, there are layers to Marchand that add to his complexity and intrigue. The NHL’s most suspended player seems to have come to the conclusion that he’s had enough to call it a day soon and hang up his skates.

Just when the Sunshine State had started blooming with their newfound love for Brad Marchand, his future plans have managed to stir the pot again with an interview to nhl.com dated June 1. Though known mostly for his brashness, Marchand’s words exuded a pragmatic grasp of “how the game works.” At 37 years of age, Marchand knows that he is not indispensable. After all, since his first 2011 Stanley Cup finals when he was a 22-year-old tasting sweet success for the first time, only Tyler Seguin shares a spot in the NHL alongside Marchand from ‘back in the day’.

Honestly speaking, Marchand’s NHL career, just like him, has aged like fine wine. Never too old, and always needed. The frantic frenzy of playoffs that he once felt is now replaced by a serene perception and simplicity of what a real game of hockey is. “I honestly feel less stressed now going into this Final than I did in the first round of the last five playoffs I was in,” said Marchand, casually poised with his feet up in the quiet of the Panthers’ locker room.

Known for being brazen in calling a spade for being a spade, Marchand comes across as a guy who knows how to have a good time in whatever he does. “I’m just so excited for it. I’m not nervous about it at all. At the end of the day, however it plays out, it’s going to play out.” Unlike most, Marchand knows he cannot deny the inevitable, whether it’s seizing the holy grail of hockey or his imminent departure from the game.

“Statistically, it’ll most likely be my last one; hopefully it’s not, but that’s just how this game works. I’m just going to enjoy every second of it,” claimed Marchand, all too casually. It doesn’t take a soothsayer or a seer for a seasoned player of the game to realize when he’s finally ready to call it a day. After all, he is one of those players who has left an indelible mark on the league with a career spanning well past a decade, a feat that most depth players or fringe talent find hard to hold up. Some fade away from the books like washed-away ink, unnoticed. But that’s not Marchand. No, this guy is up there, with the stars, where he rightfully belongs. But is he the only star ready to bid adieu?

Besides Brad Marchand, another contemporary prepares to part ways

Echoing Brad Marchand’s thoughts, is another hockey great who is gearing up to leave the spotlights and ice for good. The name is Alexander Ovechkin, or ‘The Great 8’. However you know him as, you do know him. Just back in April, Ovechkin made monster waves in the hockey world by breaking the one and only Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal record. And as incredible as it is, it’s just one of the feats the Russian achieved this season.

With 44 goals in the regular season, he tied none other than Gordie Howe for the most number of goals in a season by a player aged 39 years or more. And he reached that mark despite missing 16 games with a fractured fibula. So if anyone doubts whether there is still any juice left in him, oh there’s plenty. But it’s not just about exhausting what you’ve got. It’s about walking away when it’s right. After the Washington Capitals’ dismal exit in round two of this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, rumor mills have been churning non-stop about Ovechkin’s impending retirement. Do we think this has anything to do with his wife, Nastya Ovechkina’s recent interview with aif.ru? Absolutely.

“Alexander still has a contract for a year,” claimed Nastya, “So we will play the next season, and then fly back to live in Moscow, to our homeland. We will stay in Russia, yes.” Though this claim hasn’t been made official yet by the Capitals’ front office, it is anything but unexpected.

Ovechkin himself was caught thinking out loud back in August 2024 about his desire to culminate his career by playing for the team from where his career kicked off, Dynamo Moscow, of the KHL, if they would have him. The perfect ending to a legend from where it all began.

Seems like a sign from the hockey gods to usher in a new era of the sport with the exit of some of its most beloved names. Penny for your thoughts?