It's official: Brad Marchand is back

This just in, Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery announced this morning that veteran forward Brad Marchand will return to the Bruins' lineup and will make his season debut this evening against the Detroit Red Wings.

From Montgomery:

"We have exciting news. Number 63's gonna play tonight. I was a little coy yesterday and that's because we didn't want to get ahead ourselves. We wanted to see how he would respond to a good hard practice yesterday."

"As a coach, I'm excited to coach him and see the energy and the work ethic that he brings to the Bruins."

- Jim Montgomery

Marchand will join Patrice Bergeron and Jake DeBrusk on the team's top line and he'll also hold down a prominent spot on the team's top powerplay unit. The Bruins are currently first in the NHL after a red hot start despite having both Marchnd and top blueliner Charlie McAvoy unavailable. With Marchand now back in the picture, it'll be interesting to see how the rest of the team's lineup shakes down. I suspect that Pavel Zacha will be knocked down a line and will play alongside fellow Czechs David Pastrnak and David Krejci... no word yet though on whether he plans to change his name to David just yet though.

As for Marchand, the 34 year old forward had a career best season last year with 32 goals and 97 points in just 70 games. Needless to say that he's one of the most valuable players in the Bruins' lineup who brings more than just offensive production though. He's one of the most hated players in the NHL, yet beloved by his teammates. He has the ability to get under his opponent's skin maybe more than any other player in the NHL, which makes him even more frustrating because of his ability to put the puck in the net. It's one thing to be a rat, it's another to be a rat who puts points on the board and throws his team on his back. Love him or hate him, you can't deny that Marchand is an incredibly impactful player.