Boston Bruins: Brad Marchand will need to perform right away

Boston Bruins fans finally got some good news on Friday. Brad Marchand appears to be ready for the start of the regular season and he will need to perform right away.

After Zdeno Chara’s departure, it’s rather hard for Boston Bruins fans to get excited. The latest update on Brad Marchand should hopefully allow B’s fans to crack a smile.

Marchand had offseason surgery that appeared to make his status unknown for the start of the regular season. Now things seem to be a lot clearer.

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Don Sweeney spoke to the media on Friday and it seems like there is a chance that Marchand is available to start the season.

"“(Marchand) is doing well, he’s been on the ice pretty much every day, he will start to integrate into the main group of players from Day 1 of training camp,” Sweeney said over Zoom. “It’s more of a volume and comfort level (matter) for him. He’s done a lot of work on and off the ice with the timing of his hands and his overall conditioning, and we’ll be careful with it, but he’s made nice progression. It remains to be seen where we are as we move through camp and how he feels as a result of that, we’ll be making contact and such.”"

Having Marchand on the ice to start the season would be a big lift. It seems as though David Pastrnak will miss the start of the season. If Marchand was as well this would put a lot of pressure on Patrice Bergeron to do all the scoring.

If Marchand and Bergeron are able to play together at the beginning of the season, this would help out the team as a whole and not just the top line. With the departures of Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug, Boston will need to be a high scoring team. The defensive pairings will feature some young and inexperienced players.

Marchand did have another great season last year. He scored 28 goals and 59 assists and was one of the best players in the NHL.

But he will need to be even better next season. Compared to Pastrnak leading the way, Marchand will have to be the leading scorer.

Even though he is coming off an injury, Marchand will have to produce right away. There is no time for him to shake the rust off in the regular season.

Marchand needs to return to his 2018-19 form where he put up 100 points. If he is able to perform at that level, the Bruins might have a chance at contending for a Stanley Cup.

So with all the departures and injures in Boston, Marchand will have to once again be a player that puts up points in bunches. If not, this could be a long season for Boston Bruins fans.