Florida Panthers star forward Brad Marchand left the team's Oct. 6 matchup against the Los Angeles Kings early after suffering a lower-body injury on a scary play. While driving to the net, Marchand fell awkwardly into the side of the net. From there, Marchand needed to be helped off the ice by teammates Brady Tkachuk and Niko Mikkola, as he was unable to put any weight down on his left leg.
With Marchand needing help off the ice, many feared that his latest injury could be a season-ending one. However, that thankfully is not the case. While speaking with team reporter Jameson Olive, Panthers head coach Paul Maurice shared that Marchand will be out of game action for six weeks.
In addition, Maurice shared that the veteran winger will start skating again in three weeks. While Marchand being out for six weeks is still a good amount of time, this update is far better than it could have been. Assuming all goes well with Marchand's recovery, he should return to the lineup in late November.
That is not the worst outcome for the 18-year NHL veteran. It will now be interesting to see how the Panthers perform with Marchand sidelined again. In 52 games last season for Florida, he posted 27 goals and 54 points.
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