Brad Marchand makes his return to TD Garden as an opponent for the first time in his career on Tuesday as the veteran forward and his Florida Panthers are in Boston to take on the Bruins.
“I kind of thought about it for the first time last night, being here,” Marchand told NHL.com on Monday. “I was actually going to dinner and on the way over, I was kind of thinking about it and started to get a little emotional.
“It kind of hits you when you’re here a little bit more. I haven’t thought about it a ton up until this point. I think that’s probably why I don’t because then I’ll get emotional about it. But it’ll be hard not to. There are too many memories and I was here too long for it not to.”
Marchand, 37, spent the first 16 seasons of his NHL career in Boston after the Bruins selected the Halifax native in the third round of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.
He served as Boston’s captain for last the two seasons before his departure.
After a memorable run with the Bruins, highlighted by a Stanley Cup victory in 2011, Marchand was traded to the Panthers at last year’s deadline.
Marchand was sidelined with an injury at the time of trade and wasn’t in the lineup for Florida’s game in Boston last March.
He returned for the last 10 regular-season games before netting 10 goals and 10 assists over 23 playoff games, playing a major role in Florida’s second straight league championship.
Now he returns to Boston where he scored 422 goals and 554 assists over 1,090 career games, adding 56 goals and 82 assists over 157 postseason contests.
The Bruins made the playoffs in 12 of Marchand’s 16 seasons with the team.
“I’m sure it’s going to be tough. Some people, they won’t be able to cheer because I know they don’t like the Panthers very much, but maybe they’ll like me enough to give a little ‘Yay’ out there or something,” Marchand said. “But yeah, I think that there will be a little bit of love there, maybe if I do something good. If I do something bad, they’ll probably boo me pretty quick.
“But they’re pretty passionate here, so they might have forgot already and treat me like any other Panther player.”
Marchand said the best thing about playing in Boston was the fan support, adding “all the way down, they bleed black and gold.”
Marchand has scored three goals and three assists over seven games this season for the 3-4 Panthers.
“I’m just excited about it,” Marchand said. “It’ll be fun to be back here, it’ll be fun to play the Bruins, it’ll be fun to play against teammates, have friends and family in the building again. These are things that, down the road, I think I’ll really appreciate. There’s been enough moments that I kind of went through and I didn’t take it in enough or I didn’t really appreciate it and this is one that I will make sure that I do.”
