Brad Marchand could make his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins as early as tonight at TD Garden.
The 21-year-old winger from Hammonds Plains was recalled Sunday from the American Hockey League and is available for the Bruins’ 8 p.m. home tilt tonight against the Nashville Predators. As one of 13 healthy forwards on the roster, Marchand’s presence in the lineup is a fair possibility.
The Bruins are off to a sluggish 3-4 start. Marchand almost made the team out of training camp but lit up the AHL with six goals and two assists in six games with the Providence Bruins.
“I had a strong camp and when I got sent down I wanted to make sure I continued building on that,” Marchand told the Wilmington Patriot-Ledger. “They’ve had a tough start and I was hearing there might be some moves and an opportunity to go up. Now that opportunity has arrived and it’s a pretty great thing.”
Forward spots opened up this week when Milan Lucic went down for a month with a broken finger and Chuck Kobasew was traded to the Minnesota Wild. Marchand and fellow call-up Vladimir Sobotka will fill those holes, along with yesterday’s acquisition of Daniel Paille from the Buffalo Sabres.
“They like to stir the pot a little, get people rattled,” Bruins defenceman Johnny Boychuk told the newspaper.
“That gets people off their game … When they’re going around hitting guys, maybe scoring, it’s going to help our team.”
Marchand is on the second year of a three-year, $1.77-million contract. His base salary is $585,000.
