Elliotte Friedman shares his response to Brad Machand claiming his report was false

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Tom Banks
October 28, 2024 (1:34 PM)

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Elliotte Friedman recently revealed that the Bruins were on the verge of a Brad Marchand extension, and now he has responded after those reports were called false.

The Boston Bruins are off to a slow start in 2024/25, but given the amount of young and new faces that are in their team, it makes sense that they haven't been at their very best early. One name that has been key in the success they've had is captain Brad Marchand, who will become a free agent this coming summer after spending the last two years as captain of the Bruins.

Over the weekend, Elliotte Freidman revealed a report that Marchand is on the verge of signing a new three-year deal, something that was quickly shut down by Marchand in an interview.

When something like that happens, there's little an insider can say, whether or not Marchand's reaction was real or simply wanting to hide the details of what is happening, Friedman has to admit that the player is right.

"He's the source, there's no better source on this one than Marchand since he's the guy who is going to sign the contract," admitted Friedman on the 32 Thoughts Podcast. "So if he says at this point that I'm wrong or the story is false, is the phrase he used, then I just have to eat it because he knows where things stand."

However, Friedman doesn't believe the entire report was false, with his sources giving him some information that does include factual information about where the negotiations are headed.

"I'll say this," began Friedman. "I don't believe talks have broken off between the Bruins and Marchand. I don't think this is a situation where they've stopped discussing it or they are no longer moving forward in an attempt to sign an extension, so I'm not concerned about that. What someone said to me on Sunday morning was 'If you're going to be wrong on this one' he thinks I'm going to be wrong on term.

"He thinks that the Bruins would prefer two years instead of three and we'll see where we go here."

Ultimately, it makes sense that the Bruins want to lock up their captain, and likely for the remainder of his career at his age, so now we, like Friedman will have to wait and see how this plays out.