Panthers News: Brad Marchand's Official Florida Debut Is Set

It was the most shocking move at the trade deadline. The face of the Boston Bruins, a presumed lifer in Beantown, captain Brad Marchand was dealt just before time expired to the Florida Panthers. It's hard for anyone to imagine Marchand playing for any other team but Boston, but it looks like that day is fast approaching, as the Panthers have set his debut date.

The Panthers are targeting Friday’s matchup against Utah as a potential team debut for Brad Marchand, per head coach Paul Maurice 🐀

(h/t @JamesonCoop) pic.twitter.com/fT7a7NivC7
— SleeperNHL (@SleeperNHL) March 26, 2025

According to head coach Paul Maurice after practice on Wednesday, he is targeting this Friday's home game against Utah as Marchand's potential coming out party as a Panther.

Then after back-to-back games against the Montreal Canadiens, it should be a very bizarre scene at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto next Wednesday, where the Maple Leafs will face off against their longtime Bruins' nemesis wearing Florida colors for the first time. Marchand, a Nova Scotia native, has admitted that he was "always a Toronto fan growing up".

Marchand has been out week-to-week since March 1st, several days before the trade, having missed his last three games for Boston, and eight games thus far since coming over to Florida.

Interestingly, in lines at practice on Wednesday, while Sam Bennett was sitting out, Marchand was skating on the wing on Bennett's second line, with Mackie Samoskevich (though with Tomas Nosek at center, in Bennett's place).

#FlaPanthers forward lines today:

Verhaeghe - Barkov - Rodrigues
Samoskevich - Nosek - Marchand
Luostarinen - Lundell - Boqvist
Greer - Sturm - Gadjovich

Reinhart & Bennett not skating.
— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) March 26, 2025