Bruins head coach Joe Sacco introduced that left-winger Brad Marchand is out week-to-week with an upper-body harm (by way of Joe Haggerty of the Boston Sports activities Journal). The captain missed Sunday’s loss to the Wild after exiting the prior day’s sport in opposition to the Penguins within the first interval following an enormous hit from defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph. He has not been positioned on injured reserve however may very well be forward of Thursday’s street sport in opposition to the Hurricanes to permit Boston to hold an additional ahead.
The getting older star has been remarkably sturdy over the previous few seasons, solely lacking a handful of video games since offseason hip surgical procedure ate into the start of his 2022-23 marketing campaign. He’d additionally been on a scorching streak coming into the sport in opposition to Pittsburgh, totaling 4-6–10 in his final 10 video games. The harm designation comes simply three days forward of the commerce deadline, however whereas Marchand is on an expiring contract, he doesn’t wish to be moved and isn’t among the many increasing group of gamers Boston is listening to commerce presents for, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Interval reviews.
After all, his harm additionally restricted the Bruins’ minimal chance of gaining floor within the Jap Convention playoff race. They’ve gone 1-2-2 popping out of the 4 Nations break, and whereas they solely sit two factors again of the Purple Wings for the second wild card spot, there’s three groups between them and Detroit. They’ve additionally performed extra video games than the groups they’re chasing. As such, their playoff odds have dropped to 9.4%, per MoneyPuck.
Total, this season has evidenced the 36-year-old’s gradual however noticeable decline. With 21-26–47 in 61 video games, he’s on tempo for his lowest offensive output because the 2014-15 season. The workforce’s total struggles to generate scoring probabilities this 12 months additionally imply Marchand is on monitor to publish a minus ranking for the primary time since his preliminary 20-game trial in Boston in 2009-10. Nonetheless, he’s been the very best ahead Boston has to supply outdoors of star David Pastrňák, nonetheless considerably outpacing its different top-six names like Charlie Coyle, Elias Lindholm and Pavel Zacha.
With Marchand and Trent Frederic each on the shelf in the mean time and the latter anticipated to be moved earlier than Friday’s deadline, latest call-up Georgii Merkulov will get the chance to fill their top-six gap. The 24-year-old has only one help in 9 profession NHL video games however is tied for second on AHL Windfall in scoring with 44 factors in 47 video games.
