Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice believes that Friday’s game against the Utah Hockey Club may be a possibility for the recently-acquired winger Brad Marchand to make his debut with the team.

Marchand has been out of the lineup since sustaining an upper-body injury on March 1st when he was with the Boston Bruins. He was acquired by the Panthers later that week in the final minutes of the 2024 Trade Deadline on March 7th in a deal that sent a conditional second round pick to the Bruins.

Whether or not Marchand was originally going to be traded by the Bruins was up in the air due to his importance to the team and due to the injury, but the Panthers were willing to take the risk on getting so few games with him in order to bring him onto the team.

The Panthers are in the midst of a four-day break between their previous game, a 4-3 shootout win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday, and the upcoming game on Friday against Utah that they’re optimistic to seeing Marchand play in, giving them plenty of time to get him acclimated with the team. At this point in time, it’s unclear where in the lineup the Panthers are planning to play him.

Marchand has been struggling with production a bit more than usual for him, as he has just 21 goals and 26 assists for 47 points in 61 games this season. That would have put him on pace for 62 points before his injury, his lowest point total since 2015-16 before he broke out as an elite winger in the league.

The Panthers currently sit in a tie for first in the Atlantic Division with the Toronto Maple Leafs with a 43-25-3 record, although the Maple Leafs hold the tiebreaker with four more regulation and overtime wins. Florida will look to build off of their win over the Penguins when they host Utah on Friday at 7 p.m. EST.