Sunrise, Florida – Brad Marchand is ready for his debut in Florida.
The Panthers said that Marchand – who, due to an upper body injury, had not appeared in a match with Florida since his acquisition in a business with Boston three weeks ago – will be aligned on Friday evening when the team welcomes the UTAH hockey club.
It will be the first time in 1,091 NHL games, 1,248 when adding a playoff competition, that Marchand takes the ice in something other than a Bruins sweater. The plan is for merchant to jump in the second line of Florida with Sam Bennett and Mackie Samoskevich – who grew up in New England by watching Marchand play for the Bruins.
“It was very fun,” said Samoskevich about playing with merchant. “He’s such a good player. If silky. I have the impression that when he has the washer, he sees you – he has eyes at the back of his head. It’s very fun. Excited for the future with him. He is also a good guy from the ice.”
Marchand has scored 21 goals and 26 assists in 61 games with the Bruins this season, and the coach of the Panthers, Paul Maurice, said that the agreement had been concluded that Marchand, he believes, helps to fill what the Florida will need in his race in the playoffs and his quest to win a second consecutive Stanley Cup.
“He had an incredible career,” said Maurice. “He is a champion of the Stanley Cup, 1000 games, 1,000 minutes of penalty, a lot of points. I don’t want to see everything in a single match. … You know how tenacious this guy is, how physical he is, how hard he plays. Then, you do it in practice and you say to yourself:” Oh my God, he got his hands on him. “And you start to achieve how good the level of competence is.”
It may have been strange at the start, with the former Bruins captain wearing Florida colors after these teams had severe battles in the playoffs – both won by the Panthers – in 2023 and 2024. But according to all the accounts, Marchand returned perfectly to the mixture of Florida.
“It brings a lot of energy to the locker room, a lot of competition on the ice,” said the defender of the Panthers Gus Forsling. “A huge veteran that will be big for us.”
