Panthers’ Brad Marchand to miss six weeks with leg injury

It appears the Florida Panthers have avoided the worst-case scenario regarding one of their veteran leaders.

On Friday, Panthers head coach Paul Maurice revealed that winger Brad Marchand will be out for six weeks with a leg injury, and that he should be back skating in three weeks.

Marchand, 38, suffered the injury during Tuesday’s 2-1 road win over the Los Angeles Kings. Late in the second period, Marchand drove to net and awkwardly twisted down to the ice after seeming to trip over the skate of Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke. He lay on the ice for some time, and was eventually helped to Florida’s dressing room.

Given how ugly the injury looked at the time, this six-week timeline has to be a sigh of relief for Panthers fans.

That Kings game was just the second of the season for Marchand, as he missed Florida’s first two regular season games while still recovering from offseason surgery he underwent to repair an unspecified injury. The Halifax, Nova Scotia native has a goal and no assists in his limited action so far this season.

Last season, Marchand put up 27 goals and 27 assists for 54 points to finish fourth on the team in scoring despite playing in only 52 games.

Florida acquired Marchand from the Boston Bruins in exchange for a conditional second-round pick at the 2024-25 trade deadline. He played a major role in the Panthers winning their second straight Stanley Cup that season, scoring 10 goals and adding 10 assists for 20 points over Florida’s 23 playoff games.

Marchand is in the second season of a six-year, $31.5 million contract with the Panthers.

Florida, who have earned six points with a 2-0-2 record through four games so far, will host the Minnesota Wild for its home opener on Saturday.