“It will be nice to go home…to see the guys and say goodbye. It will be weird to be there as an opposing team.” Brad Marchand kept it real on March 10 as he confirmed that he would be traveling to Boston on his road trip debut with the Florida Panthers. However, a dramatic on-ice reunion with his Bruins brothers could not be possible.

The former Boston Bruins star was placed on week-to-week because of an upper-body injury he suffered following an awkward collision with Pittsburgh Penguins’ P.O. Joseph on March 1 and hasn’t hit the ice since then. Naturally, the question on everyone’s mind is: When will Brad Marchand skate up with the likes of Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett in a Florida Panthers jersey? Well, the Florida head coach Paul Maurice had a few things to say about that.

“I don’t think anything is necessarily changed in the original diagnosis,” said Maurice, the Florida Panthers head coach, was asked about Brad Marchand’s injury update today. Then, the Panthers’ head coach revealed, “We’re hopeful to get him back toward the end of the regular season. That was the hope. I think that was kind of the idea” The playoffs are set to start in mid-April, and with Tkachuk also on LTIR, the Panthers will be looking to make sure that there are no hiccups in their recovery process. 

The coach, however, is happy that Marchand, as expected, could skate on Tuesday: “Wanted to get on the ice and move some pucks around just to see where he was at, so that was a positive. He stayed through it. I mean, that’s an 11-minute morning skate.” 

At the same time, Maurice is not willing to get ahead of himself. “I don’t think that necessarily puts them ahead of his injury rehab. But it puts him back on the ice, which is the positive part for legs and conditioning and all those other things. So, he’s going to be able to do some things on the ice,” he concluded. Well, the 36-year-old beast has been on the ice for as many as 1090 games during which he racked up 422 career goals and 554 assists. 

But as fans await Marchand’s full-fledged return, how did his first practice session go with his new team go?

Brad Marchand’s first practice with the Panthers after the trade 

While Brad Marchand came out to practice at TD Garden for the umpteenth time in his long NHL career, this time, it was not in the usual black and gold of the home side. He was instead wearing a white sweater that had written, “Property of Florida” surrounding the Panthers logo. 

While sharing his experience of the first practice session with the Panthers, Marchand said, “That was the first time I’ve put the jersey on.” The 36-year-old star also added, “First time I got to go on the ice with the guys… Still felt weird and odd being out there, understanding new drills and the way guys are out there. That’s a big part of it.” Well, considering how things lined up just perfectly for him to record his first practice session with the Panthers at the home of the team for which he played 16 seasons, ‘weird’ is almost an understatement. 

Weird or not, it’s the reality, and it’s going to need some time getting used to. Perhaps more for the Bruins faithful than any other fans.