The Boston Bruins are "getting closer" to finalizing a three-year extension for captain Brad Marchand, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported on Saturday.

The conclusion was later denied by Marchand, who told reporters that the report was false "for now."

"If I was to sign a three-year extension, it would be signed, you know?" Marchand told reporters on Saturday night. "Clearly, Elliotte is just wrong there. So that's about it."

Marchand is playing on the final season of the eight-year, $49 million deal he inked with the Bruins in 2016. An extension would stop him from hitting unrestricted free agency next summer, and a three-year deal would keep Marchand with the team through 2027-28.

The longest-tenured Bruin since Patrice Bergeron's retirement in July 2023, Marchand was named captain ahead of the 2023-24 season.

He has so far recorded four assists in seven games while the Bruins have gone 3-4-1 to open the 2024-25 campaign.

Marchand is skating in his 16th NHL campaign, all of which he has played with the Bruins. Last season he recorded 29 goals and 67 points in 82 games while leading the Bruins to the franchise's eighth straight playoff appearance.

The Bruins' 2024 playoff run ended last spring with a second-round loss to the eventual champion Florida Panthers.

Having signed starting goaltender Jeremy Swayman to an eight-year, $66 million extension, Boston will hope to make a deeper run next spring despite the team's relatively slow start to the season. Extending Marchand, and therefore avoiding any pressure to trade him at the deadline rather than risking him walking in free agency, could help further that goal.

The slow season start involved Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery, who is also currently working on an expiring contract, expressing visible frustration with Marchand during an Oct. 19 overtime loss to the Utah Hockey Club. When asked about the incident Marchand defended Montgomery and expressed confidence in the third-year Bruins head coach.

Marchand ranks fifth among all Bruins players with 1,037 games played, 401 career goals and 933 career points. The veteran winger also leads the 101-year-old franchise with 56 postseason goals, and ranks second only to Hall of Fame defenseman Ray Bourque with 138 points in 157 playoff games. He is the only remaining player from the roster that led the Bruins to the 2011 Stanley Cup.