Florida Panthers veteran forward Brad Marchand confirmed on social media this week that he recently underwent surgery.
The 38-year-old said he would be unable to play in former teammate Zdeno Chara’s upcoming charity game in Slovakia as part of the announcement.
“I won’t be able to make Z’s game,’’ Marchand said. “Unfortunately, I had to have a surgery, was trying to fix a problem without surgery, but unfortunately that was unable to happen and had to kind of do it last minute. With the time and recovery I am going to need, I won’t be able to make it and play in the game unfortunately.”
According to George Richards of Florida Hockey Now, Marchand is believed to be dealing with a hip and sports hernia injury, adding the surgery could keep him sidelined to start the 2026-27 season.
Marchand played with the injury for a large portion of the 2025-26 season, including February’s Winter Olympics when he represented Canada.
Marchand scored 27 goals and added 27 assists in 52 games with the Panthers last season.
It was his first full campaign in Florida after the organization acquired the scrappy winger at the 2025 trade deadline en route to a second straight Stanley Cup championship.
The Halifax native is set to enter the second season of a six-year, $31.05 million contract, featuring an average annual value of $5.25 million.
Marchand has produced 451 goals and 583 assists over 1,152 career games with the Boston Bruins and Panthers after being selected by Boston in the third-round of the 2006 NHL Draft.
