Tragedy strikes Brad Marchand and his entire family

Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice confirmed yesterday that star forward Brad Marchand will not be in the lineup for the team's game against the Anaheim Ducks this evening. When pressed for details Maurice confirmed that indeed there had been a death in the Marchand family and that Brad will take a brief leave of absence from the team in order to attend the funeral and tend to family matters.

“Brad Marchand won’t play tomorrow," Maurice told reporters". A family member passed away and he’s attending the funeral."

While obviously Marchand's absence will be short-lived, the Panthers' lineup is serious lacking top end talent and they can't afford to keep losing games. The team is already without star forwards Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk due to injury. The Panthers are 5-5-0 and have dropped some particularly poor decisions to start the season.

Now, they'll be looking to get back above .500 without Marchand in the lineup. Game on.