Brad Marchand Trending to Make Panthers Debut Friday vs Utah

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Brad Marchand’s much anticipated Florida Panthers debut appears to be close.

On Wednesday, Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said its possible Marchand plays Friday night against the Utah Hockey Club.

”We’ll get him through a full practice tomorrow (Thursday) and then make an assessment but we are shooting for Utah right now,” Maurice said after Wednesday’s practice. “But all of these [injuries], anybody that’s got anything — we’ll put Kulikov in this — we’re not jamming these guys back on their first available day.”

”If [Brad] says he’ll like a few more days, we’re good with that. But we need to get him through a few practices to see.”

Marchand, 36, was acquired by Florida at the trade deadline after spending the first 16 seasons of his career with the Boston Bruins.

He hasn’t played since March 1, where he sustained an upper-body injury against the Pittsburgh Penguins when he was still a member of the Bruins.

“Once you get a player that’s past 30, he has a very ingrained game and you’re not changing that, but they’re usually smart enough to adapt,” Maurice said when asked about adding a veteran like Marchand to the lineup.  “There’s huge advantages (adding a player like Marchand). There’s a big chunk of that game that we’re not teaching Brad. He’s already learned all of those things.”

When he is ready to go, Marchand will play alongside Mackie Samoskevich and his 4 Nations Team Canada linemate Sam Bennett on the Panthers’ second line.

Maurice added: “With Matthew [Tkachuk] out of our lineup there’s a place there for him for sure. Of all the players that we have, he’s played a few games with Sam Bennett, so he knows he got some conversation there. That’s the idea of putting him there.”