Brad Marchand could make Florida Panthers debut Friday against Utah
Brad Marchand takes part in a morning skate with the Florida Panthers. (Florida Panthers)It may be time for the Brad Marchand era to begin in South Florida.
Marchand was acquired by the Florida Panthers at the NHL Trade Deadline earlier this month in a shocking deal with the Boston Bruins.
The future Hall of Famer had suffered an upper-body injury about a week earlier and has not played since, though Marchand has been practicing with the Panthers for the past several weeks.
On Wednesday, when Florida took the ice for a workout at the Baptist Health IcePlex in Coral Springs, Marchand was once again a full participant.
He skated on the right side of the second line with Mackie Samoskevich on the left and Tomas Nosek filling in for center Sam Bennett, who did not skate.
Afterwards, Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice said that if all goes well, Marchand could make his debut with the Cats on Friday, when Florida hosts the Utah Hockey Club at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise.
The plan, Maurice said, is to have Marchand go through another full practice on Thursday and then, after examining how his injury has responded, come to a final decision regarding Friday’s game.
“If he says he’d like a few more days, we’re good with that, but we need to get him through a few practices to see,” said Maurice.
The in-game element is the only thing missing from Marchand’s integration to Florida. Off the ice, he’s already become one of the boys.
“He knows a few guys in here, he’s played with the Boston guys so he’s got three guys there, he’s played with the Team Canada guys so now you have five guys in the locker room he knows, so you don’t have to wait two weeks for his personality to come out,” Maurice said. “He’s a gregarious man, he’s very positive, loves being at the rink, loves being on the ice and he shows it every time he’s out there. He fits in, so it almost feels like he’s been here forever.”
Currently, the Panthers have several key players who are out of the lineup.
Along with Marchand, Florida is missing Matthew Tkachuk and Dmitry Kulikov due to injury and Aaron Ekblad is out until Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs due to a suspension.
Tkachuk is expected back sometime during the opening round while Kulikov remains week-to-week with an upper-body injury he suffered 10 days ago on Long Island.
“Anybody that’s got anything, we’ll put Kulikov in this, we’re not jamming these guys back on their first available day,” Maurice said.
Bennett and Niko Mikkola both missed Wednesday’s practice after suffering minor injuries during Sunday’s win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, but each are expected to be players on Friday, per Maurice.
That would mean if all goes well, it’s likely that Bennett would center a line of Marchand and Samoskevich.
“With Matthew (Tkachuk) out of our lineup, there’s a place there for (Marchand), for sure,” said Maurice. “Of all the players that he has (played with), he’s played a few games with Sam Bennett, so he’s had some conversation there. That’s the idea of putting him there.”
At the end of the day, whether or not Marchand plays on Friday, it’s clear that he’s on the cusp of returning to game action.
That’s huge for the Panthers, as it gives both Marchand and his new teammates time to get acclimated to one another ahead of the playoffs beginning.
“The challenges would be, once you get a player that’s past 30, he also has a very ingrained game, and you’re not changing that, but they’re usually smart enough to adapt it,” Maurice said. “There are huge advantages. There’s a big chunk of that game that we’re not teaching Brad. He’s already learned all of those things.”
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