Bruins officially trade Brad Marchand to Oilers rival after connection to Edmonton

The Oilers were heavily connected to Marchand in the final hours of the deadline, and even in the weeks leading up to today.

The Boston Bruins are finally falling out of playoff contention, and are making the harsh decision to move off their team captain for future assets. The full return of the trade is not yet known.

This move is made possible by Matthew Tkachuk and his full $9.5M salary heading to LTIR. Marchand has a more manageable salary of just over $6M, but they're fully pushing the limits of the salary cap now. They clearly got creative to make this deal happen.

The Florida Panthers just beat out the Edmonton Oilers for the Stanley Cup in 7 Games, and now their team will be much more improved than last year. If the Oilers get back to the final, they may be in for a rematch against Florida with their new elite lineup.

The Edmonton Oilers were clearly looking for top six scoring help at the deadline with the addition of Marchand, but unfortunately missed out to a rival team.

Clearly, no trade clauses and lack of cap space really handcuffed the team's ability to make more trade deadline moves - but Frederic, Jones, and Walman will all improve their team.

While the Oilers did make some quality additions, other teams in the NHL armed up with massive deals. This year's playoffs will be a complete gauntlet, and the Oilers have a harsh path ahead of themselves.