Brad Marchand’s Bruins exit shook the league—now, as a Panther, he’s in the spotlight, chasing a playoff run. Despite Marchand switching teams, some of his traits, both famous and infamous are still talked about in the NHL world. So, the Panthers’ head coach, Paul Maurice, took a candid shot at Marchand ahead of an important game.

Later today, the Panthers, who are leading the Atlantic Division, will face the Bruins, placed second from the bottom. It will also be Marhcand’s battle against familiar faces, having spent over a decade and a half with the Bruins. However, Maurice was at his candid best as he mocked Marchand ahead of the game.

During the pre-game interview, Maurice, talking about the locker room, said, “We’ve got some strange dudes in there.” He was directing his shot at his new recruit, Marchand, who is known for his locker-room antics. Take the example of a few seasons back. During the 2021-22 season, Marchand had just finished his warmup ahead of the game against the Capitals. While rushing to the locker room, Marchand grabbed the phone of a young fan, who was recording him. While he didn’t do it in anger, he snatched the phone to record a pregame message for his young fan, thereby making his day. This was one among many examples of Marchand’s antics off the ice, thereby adding to the quirkiness of the Panthers’ team.

Meanwhile, the Panthers’ captain, Aleksander Barkov acknowledged the fact that his team is tough on the ice but fun-loving off it. During an interview once, he said, “Everyone’s serious when we go on the ice and when we have to work. That’s the best part of it. And, off the ice, obviously, we want to be as relaxed as possible, joke around, that kind of stuff. We love spending time together.”

Further, this isn’t the first time that Maurice has highlighted the strange factor in his team. This signaled that Brad Marchand wasn’t the only ‘strange dude’ that Maurice was referring to.

Former Panthers’ goalie backed Maurice’s claims

Last season, Anthony Stolarz was the backup goalie for the Panthers before he was traded to the Maple Leafs. Unlike most of the teams, the Panthers’ dressing room is filled with players of varied backgrounds and nationalities. As a result, there are countless tales and weird traditions followed by the players, which makes their dressing room so unique.

Highlighting this fact, goalie Stolarz said, “Goalies have this weird superstitious thing and I’m not superstitious. I’m cracking jokes with the guys, talking on the bench in between periods, trying to just lighten the mood any way I can. But goalies are kind of known for being a little weird. So, I try to stick to that stigma just a little bit.”

On the game front, the Panthers are dominating the Atlantic Division and are primed to reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Certainly, the off-ice bonding helps on-ice performances and the Panthers are rightly proving this fact by combining their locker-room antics with winning games on the ice.