The Florida Panthers aren’t anticipating to see Brad Marchand play once more anytime quickly, and with the staff’s playoff hopes dwindling it is potential that the two-time Stanley Cup winner and Olympic silver medalist’s season could be over.
Marchand has been coping with a lower-body damage for a while, Florida coach Paul Maurice mentioned Monday. The Panthers entered Monday 12 factors out of a playoff spot with 19 video games remaining, that means it could take some type of miraculous end simply for the injury-plagued, back-to-back Cup champs to get into the postseason.
“There’s going to be a decision made on what’s the best way to get him to 100% full health,” Maurice mentioned.
Marchand, even whereas coping with the damage, ranks second on the Panthers in objectives (27), assists (27) and factors (54). He and Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby are the one gamers, age 37 or older, with at the least 27 objectives this season.
The Panthers have not mentioned particularly what the damage is, however Maurice mentioned it is one thing that Marchand has been in a position to handle till now.
“We had a handle on it and there were times where he didn’t play and kind of maintained it and came back in, and then it just got to the point on this road trip that it was never recovering and continuing to kind of get worse,” Maurice mentioned. “We’re hopeful that we got it early enough … we’ll know this week.”
Marchand’s absence solely provides to the story of the season for the Panthers.
Florida misplaced captain Aleksander Barkov to torn knee ligaments throughout his first follow of coaching camp, performed practically 50 video games with out Matthew Tkachuk whereas the star ahead recovered from surgical procedure final summer time, have seen their defensive numbers plummet since Seth Jones received damage two months in the past — and people are simply among the accidents the Panthers have been hit with.
“We’ve been dealing with this right from 20 minutes into our first day of training camp this year,” Maurice mentioned.
Marchand gained a Cup with Boston, then was traded to Florida final spring and helped the Panthers win their second consecutive title. He’s within the first 12 months of a six-year contract with Florida.
