Panthers Activate Brad Marchand Off IR

What started as a day-to-day injury turned into a considerably longer absence for Panthers winger Brad Marchand.  However, it appears the counter will stop at two-and-a-half weeks as the team has activated him off injured reserve, according to the NHL’s Media Site.

The 37-year-old suffered an undisclosed injury early this month against Toronto.  Initially deemed to be held out for precautionary reasons, Marchand wound up missing seven games due to the injury, taking one of Florida’s top offensive performers out of the lineup.  Head coach Paul Maurice had phrased the injury as something that Marchand had been dealing with for a while and the hope was that some time off would stop it from becoming worse.

After playing a bit more of a limited role following his acquisition from Boston last season, injuries put Marchand into a top-line spot this year.  He certainly has made the most of it, picking up 23 goals and 23 assists in just 41 games; he’s only one point behind Sam Reinhart for the team lead despite playing in eight fewer contests.

With his return and the recent return by winger Matthew Tkachuk, Florida’s offense is about the healthiest it has been all season long.  They’re still without Aleksander Barkov and depth players Tomas Nosek and Jonah Gadjovich but they now have all of their available top-six pieces healthy.  They’ll need them if they want to make up the five points needed to get themselves into at least a Wild Card position to try to defend their back-to-back Stanley Cup titles.

The Panthers opened up a roster spot earlier this week when they sent center Jack Studnicka down after clearing waivers.  With no recalls since then, they still had the open slot to activate Marchand without any other moves being needed.