Bruins’ Brad Marchand Out Week-To-Week

Bruins head coach Joe Sacco announced that left-winger Brad Marchand is out week-to-week with an upper-body injury (via Joe Haggerty of the Boston Sports Journal). The captain missed Sunday’s loss to the Wild after exiting the prior day’s game against the Penguins in the first period following a massive hit from defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph. He has not been placed on injured reserve but could be ahead of Thursday’s road game against the Hurricanes to allow Boston to carry an extra forward.

The aging star has been remarkably durable over the past few seasons, only missing a handful of games since offseason hip surgery ate into the beginning of his 2022-23 campaign. He’d also been on a hot streak entering the game against Pittsburgh, totaling 4-6–10 in his last 10 games. The injury designation comes just three days ahead of the trade deadline, but while Marchand is on an expiring contract, he doesn’t want to be moved and isn’t among the expanding group of players Boston is listening to trade offers for, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports.

Of course, his injury also limited Boston’s minimal likelihood of gaining ground in the Eastern Conference playoff race. They’ve gone 1-2-2 coming out of the 4 Nations break, and while they only sit two points back of the Red Wings for the second wild card spot, there’s three teams between them and Detroit. They’ve also played more games than the teams they’re chasing. As such, their playoff odds have dropped to 9.4%, per MoneyPuck.

Overall, this season has evidenced the 36-year-old’s slow but noticeable decline. With 21-26–47 in 61 games, he’s on pace for his lowest offensive output since the 2014-15 season. The team’s overall struggles to generate scoring chances this year also mean Marchand is on track to post a minus rating for the first time since his initial 20-game trial in Boston in 2009-10. Still, he’s been the best forward Boston has to offer outside of star David Pastrňák, still significantly outpacing their other top-six names like Charlie Coyle, Elias Lindholm, and Pavel Zacha.

With Marchand and Trent Frederic both on the shelf at the moment and the latter expected to be moved before Friday’s deadline, recent call-up Georgii Merkulov will get the opportunity to fill their top-six hole. The 24-year-old has just one assist in nine career NHL games but is tied for second on AHL Providence in scoring with 44 points in 47 games.