One of the most notable trade deadline additions has yet to debut with his new team. When the Panthers made a last-second move to acquire Bruins star winger Brad Marchand on March 7, the Boston captain was nursing an upper-body injury sustained the weekend prior. He’s been occasionally practicing with his new team as he nears a return to play, which Florida head coach Paul Maurice said could be Friday’s game against Utah, via team reporter Jameson Olive.
It’s not a set deal, and there won’t be a transaction prefacing it as Marchand isn’t on injured reserve. He last played on March 1, when a hit from Penguins defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph sent him awkwardly into the boards and then to the locker room.
“He has been on the ice for a little bit now,” Maurice told reporters. “That’s probably the advantage to four days (off) in that we don’t lose another game. We’ll get him through a full practice (Thursday) and make an assessment. But we are shooting for Friday against Utah right now.”
Before the injury and subsequent trade, Marchand had his worst offensive campaign in a decade. Of course, the ever-consistent winger was still on pace for a respectable 63 points, not a massive drop-off from last year’s 67 and almost to be expected given Boston’s general offensive struggles this season. He’s still a bona fide top-six forward, especially on a Florida team that’s had to deploy names like depth pivot Jesper Boqvist and rookie Mackie Samoskevich in second-line roles as of late with Marchand and Matthew Tkachuk on the shelf. Whether he gets a look on the top line with Aleksander Barkov remains to be seen, but at the very least, he should slot in as the Cats’ second-line left wing alongside Sam Bennett — a duo of pests that will likely land Tkachuk on the right side when he’s ready to return.
“We’re not jamming these guys back on their first available day,” Maurice continued. “We’re not bringing them in early. If (Marchand) says he wants a few more days, we’re good with that.”
Some good news on the injury front is a welcome change of pace for the Panthers, who’ve also had their blue line decimated by a suspension to Aaron Ekblad and an injury to Dmitry Kulikov. They’ve gone 3-4-0 in their last seven as a result, dropping back into a tie with the Maple Leafs for first place in the Atlantic Division — a tiebreaker that Toronto currently holds with four more wins in regulation and overtime. They’re scoring 2.29 goals per game over that stretch, far below their season average of 3.23.
