BOSTON – Brad Marchand admitted it was hard to keep a straight face.
When the winger met the media on Wednesday afternoon, he did little to indicate his return was imminent.
“Yeah, I did,” Marchand, who will make his season debut Thursday night against the Detroit Red Wings, said with a smirk when asked if he’s having trouble keeping up. information near the chest.
“It was tough. Obviously you guys [the media] do your job and try to spread the information. The last thing I wanted to do [Wednesday] said I’m going to play and have to retire today.”
The truth, Marchand explains, is that this date has been circled on the calendar for months. After undergoing a double hip arthroscopy and labrum repair in late May, he was initially told he could aim for Thanksgiving as his return date.
That, however, didn’t sit well with the 34-year-old. He wanted to be back much sooner, so he spoke to Bruins medical staff and offered an accelerated plan that would put him into action about a month ahead of his original schedule.
After five months of intense rehabilitation, Marchand responded well and came out the other side feeling stronger in his legs than he has in years.
“Right away, as soon as it was announced that I was going to have surgery, they told me it would be around the end of November. I was like, ‘it won’t be the end of November,'” a said Marchand. with a smile. “We sat down and talked, and they knew where I was and what I was hoping to do. They said, ‘Okay, let’s see what we can do.’ But obviously we’re dealing with rehab, and we need to make sure she heals properly. They did what they could to put together a game plan where they could speed things up a bit, but still once, for sure and that’s why we kind of kept quiet because it could have changed from day to day depending on how I was feeling.
“There were days when I was trying to push to do a bit more but they were[saying], ‘just follow the program.; It was good. It was great to have an end date in sight before we got back. It’s as if you were able to accomplish something. Again, it is difficult to sit down. But it definitely made it easier with the guys winning. I have to thank them for doing this.”
Video: Marchand updates media ahead of BOS vs DET
Coach Jim Montgomery, who confirmed Marchand would be back in the lineup at his familiar spot alongside Patrice Bergeron and Jake DeBruskadmitted to being quite keen on coaching a player with Marchand’s abilities.
“I know myself as a coach, I’m excited to coach him and see the energy and work ethic he will bring to the Bruins tonight,” Montgomery said.
The Boston bench chief also reiterated that the team’s doctors and medical staff, including player rehabilitation manager Scott Waugh, are “extremely comfortable” with Marchand’s progress and his ability to be back in the lineup on Thursday night.
“From the beginning we have had our own internal deadlines and they are ahead of what they were due to the tremendous job our medical staff have done and you have to give Marchy a lot of credit for how hard he has continued. his rehab,” Montgomery said. “Everyone is comfortable, the doctors are comfortable, Scotty Waugh, who has done a tremendous job in charge of his rehabilitation, is extremely comfortable.
“We were just ticking all the boxes [and] all the boxes have been checked. It was the first time everyone was comfortable – except for Brad Marchand. He wanted to play earlier. But we are really convinced that everything will be fine for him as a player.”
The Bruins, however, will still be cautious with Marchand, who won’t travel to Columbus for Boston’s second straight run Friday night. The plan will give Marchand four days to recuperate and prepare for Game 1 of the Bs’ road trip next Tuesday night in Pittsburgh.
“He’s not going to play in Columbus because we don’t want him to travel,” Montgomery said. “We are not going to play him on consecutive nights. We are going to allow him to recover and we also have a favorable schedule for him to recover without playing for four days.”
Montgomery added that he aims to keep Marchand around 16-17 minutes of ice time against the Red Wings, while being flexible depending on how the game unfolds.
“I think it’s going to be more the flow of the game,” Montgomery said. “Ideally I want to keep him at 16-17 minutes. If all four lines work, it makes it easier. It’s just the way the game goes. There’s no restriction on how many minutes he can play. , it’s just his hockey conditioning. The level is going to be the most important factor.”
Marchand acknowledged that there will likely be some rust in his game that he will have to overcome early on.
“It’s tough because it’s a regular season game, it’s clearly not a show,” Marchand said. “You normally have three or four to prepare for the season you come in and you feel it and make sure you’re where you want to be, it’s okay to make mistakes.
“But that’s not the case tonight. It’s about making sure you come in and I’m not a handicap there and I’m not the way of the guys. They’re rolling and feeling The key is to keep it simple and keep shifts short, without trying to do too much or be too fancy.”
Video: Montgomery shares his thoughts ahead of BOS vs. DET
Wait, there’s more
- With the return of Marchand, Pavel Zasha will drop down to the third line and switch to the right wing to play with Thirty Frederick and Charlie Coylewhile Craig Smith will move to the fourth line right wing. AJ Greer, meanwhile, will be a healthy scratch. “It’s not like Greer was the automatic scapegoat. I talked to him about it,” Montgomery said. “It’s about what happened last game, how the guys train and what we think is the best game considering who we’re up against.”
- Jeremy Swayman will start in goal on Thursday evening. The goalie hasn’t played since Oct. 18 in Ottawa.
- Mike Reilly will sit like a healthy scratch with Jakub Zboril return to the range alongside Brandon Carlo.
- The Red Wings (3-1-2) come to town after their first regulation loss of the season Tuesday night, a 6-2 loss to New Jersey. Dominik Kubalik leads the Red Wings with 10 points in six games and is tied with Dylan Larkin and David Perron for the team lead with four goals.
Thursday’s provisional schedule
FORWARDERS
Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – Jake DeBrusk
Taylor Room – David Krejci – David Pastrnak
Trent Frederic – Charlie Coyle – Pavel Zacha
Nick Foligno – Tomas Nosek – Craig Smith
DEFENDERS
Hampus Lindholm – Matt Grzelcyk
Derek Forbort – Connor Clifton
Jakub Zboril – Brandon Carlo
GUARDIANS
Jeremy Swayman
Linus Ullmark
Video: Russo discusses the keys to the Honda game with Jaffe
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