Florida Panthers Targeting Friday Night Debut for Brad Marchand
Brad Marchand is potentially closing in making his Florida Panthers debut on Friday night against the Utah Hockey Club.
Per head coach Paul Maurice, the Panthers are targeting Friday night’s game against the Utah Hockey Club as Brad Marchand’s Florida debut.
The 36-year-old superstar has not played since sustaining an upper-body injury on March 1 with the Boston Bruins after taking a hit from Pittsburgh’s P.O. Joseph.
The Panthers acquired him on March 7 in exchange for a conditional 2027 second-round pick that would become a 2028 first-rounder if Florida advances past the second round of the playoffs and Marchand plays in at least 50 percent of games in the postseason.
Marchand has been skating since March 11 and has joined the team for several practices in the weeks since. The Panthers want to see him get through at least one more before they decide when he makes his return.
“He has been on the ice for a little bit now,” Maurice said. “We’ll get him through a full practice tomorrow and then we’ll make an assessment, but we’re shooting for Friday against Utah.
“But with all of these injured guys — like [Dmitry Kulikov] — we’re not jamming them in early on the first available day. If he says he needs a few more days, we’re good with that, but we need to get him through a few more practices to see.”
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Sam Bennett and Niko Mikkola both did not skate during Wednesday’s practice after sustaining minor injuries on Sunday night against Pittsburgh. Per, Maurice, both of them are “all good.”
Bennett, Mikkola and Sam Reinhart were all given Wednesday off due to the “volume of games” they had played. All three of them were at the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament in February while the rest of the league had a two-week break.
Dmitry Kulikov (week-to-week), Aaron Ekblad (suspended), and Matthew Tkachuk (LTIR) were absent from team practice on Wednesday morning.