Bruins offer medical update on Brad Marchand
The Boston Bruins will begin the 2022-23 season without Brad Marchand available.
The unfortunate update on the Black and Gold’s 34-year-old superstar came with the word that Marchand did in fact undergo surgery on both hips Friday in New York. It was a procedure that both Marchand and the Bruins acknowledged as a possibility this summer or next.
“Brad Marchand underwent successful hip arthroscopy and labral repair on both hips,” the team confirmed in a statement. “The procedure was done by Dr. Bryan Kelly at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, NY.”
The Bruins added that Marchand’s surgery comes with a recovery time of six months.
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Not great, Bob!
Marchand is the third Bruins player to undergo hip surgery since 2020, joining David Pastrnak in 2020 and Bruin-turned-Duck John Moore in 2021, but the first to undergo an operation on both hips at the same time. If you’re looking for any sot of reference there, it’s worth noting that David Krejci had both hips operated on during his Bruins career, with the first surgery coming in 2009 before a surgery the other hip in 2016. Krejci, of course, went on to have multiple productive seasons despite the dueling surgically-repaired hips, and is still productive even though it’s no longer visible from our backyard.
As for Marchand, the ‘best case scenario’ timeline would set the 5-foot-9 wing up for a return around Thanksgiving. So, assuming the NHL gets back to their ‘normal’ schedule design this fall, that’s about 25 games or so without Marchand.
And with Marchand out, the Bruins’ left-side depth chart currently features Taylor Hall, Jake DeBrusk, Trent Frederic, and Nick Foligno. Centers Erik Haula and Tomas Nosek also have experience playing left wing.
Marchand, who led all Boston skaters with four goals and 11 points in seven postseason contests, is coming off a regular season that included 32 goals and a team-leading 80 points in 70 games played. Marchand has been the league’s fourth-highest scoring player since 2016 with 506 points in 420 games, with only Patrick Kane (517), Leon Draisaitl (556), and Connor McDavid (649) posting higher totals over that span.
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