Bruins' Brad Marchand week-to-week, won't play ahead of NHL trade deadline
Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand is considered week-to-week with the upper-body injury he suffered over the weekend, interim head coach Joe Sacco announced Tuesday. The injury will keep Marchand out of the Boston lineup through Friday's NHL trade deadline.
That could potentially derail general manager Don Sweeney's plans for the deadline, with Marchand among the Bruins players potentially available via trade. The 36-year-old is in the final year of his contract with Boston, and while both sides have expressed interest in working out an extension, nothing has come to fruition yet.
Sacco made it sound like Marchand would be wearing his Bruins sweater when the forward does get back on the ice.
"He's disappointed," Sacco told reporters after Tuesday's practice. "But he'll be back. He'll be back."
While the Bruins are having a down season and are currently sitting on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture, Marchand has still been productive for the Black and Gold. He has 21 goals and 26 assists for 47 points, all of which rank second on the team behind star forward David Pastrnak.
"Obviously a hard guy to replace. We're going to miss him, but it creates opportunities for other guys," said Sacco, pointing to young forwards Georgii Merkulov and Matt Poitras on the B's roster.
Marchand has played in 61 games and will miss just his second game of the season Tuesday night when Boston hosts the Nashville Predators at TD Garden. He's the kind of player contending teams look to add for the final stretch of the regular season and the playoffs, though we'll have to wait and see if his upper-body injury potentially crushes his market.
Brad Marchand's injury
Marchand was injured in Saturday afternoon's win over the Pittsburgh Penguins when he was hit from behind and sent into the boards by Pierre-Olivier Joseph late in the first period. He did not return to action after the hit.
Marchand traveled with the team for Sunday's tilt against the Wild in Minnesota, but did not suit up for the first time this season.
The buzzer will sound for the NHL trade deadline at 3 p.m. on Friday.
