Opening Night Buzz: Marchand expected for Bruins' first game

Welcome to the 2020-21 NHL season! Opening Night is Wednesday and NHL.com has you covered with all the latest news.

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Boston Bruins

Brad Marchand is expected to be in the lineup when the Bruins open their season at the New Jersey Devils on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, NESN, NHL.TV).
The forward returned to practice Wednesday. He started training camp with the Bruins on Jan. 4 but left practice early Sunday and missed practice Monday and Tuesday. He had surgery to repair a sports hernia Sept. 14; the expected recovery time was four months.
Coach Bruce Cassidy said he anticipates that Marchand will play, but a final decision won't be made until Thursday.
"He'll be a game-time decision, obviously, coming off his surgery," Cassidy said. "He's been involved in, I think, 90 percent of the practices. He left a couple early to get some treatment. So I suspect there will be a little bit of adapting from the surgery for him as we go through here. But I fully expect him to play tomorrow. See where it goes from here." -- Amalie Benjamin

New York Rangers

Mika Zibanejad likely will play when the Rangers open their season at home against the New York Islanders on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, TVAS, MSG, MSG+2, NHL.TV).
The center, who scored 41 goals in 57 games last season, skated for the fourth time and participated in his second full practice of training camp Wednesday. He did not skate during the first week of camp after testing positive for COVID-19.
"It certainly looked like he was ready to go today but we'll have a clearer picture of what that's going to be [later]," coach David Quinn said. "As far his minutes goes that'll just be monitoring during the game. Obviously, everybody knows he's had COVID and everybody reacts differently to it. That's going to be a shift by shift decision."
Zibanejad is expected to skate on a line with Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich. Igor Shesterkin will be the Rangers' starting goalie.
The Rangers will enter the season without a captain. Zibanejad, Kreider, forward Artemi Panarin and defenseman Jacob Trouba were named alternate captains Wednesday. -- Dan Rosen

Washington Capitals

Craig Anderson signed a one-year, $700,000 contract with the Capitals on Wednesday.
The 39-year-old goalie was placed on waivers and will join goalies Pheonix Copley and Zach Fucale on the taxi squad if he clears at noon ET on Thursday.
Goalie Ilya Samsonov is expected to start for Washington in its season-opener at the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SN360, SNE, SNO, MSG-B, NBCSWA, NHL.TV).
Vitek Vanecek, a 25-year-old rookie, made the roster as Samsonov's backup.
Anderson signed a professional tryout contract with the Capitals on Dec. 27 after Henrik Lundqvist announced Dec. 17 he would be unable to play this season because of a heart condition that later required open-heart surgery. Anderson was 11-17-2 with a 3.25 goals-against average and .902 save percentage for the Ottawa Senators last season.
"Anderson, I thought, played really well in the scrimmage and Copley, I thought, was real strong throughout the camp," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. "So these guys are available to us, but right now this is the decision we made with these two kids. They've worked hard to get to this position to gain an opportunity and now they'll get a chance to show what they can do."

Columbus Blue Jackets

Mikko Koivu
will not play for the Blue Jackets in their season opener at the Nashville Predators on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; FS-TN, FS-O, NHL.TV) because of NHL COVID-19 protocols.
The 37-year-old center did not practice the past two days and didn't make the trip to Nashville. He was one of 19 players held out of practice Friday "out of an abundance of caution and in accordance with NHL COVID-19 protocols" and did not practice the next day before taking part in a scrimmage Sunday.
Koivu signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract with the Blue Jackets on Oct. 10 after playing 15 seasons with the Minnesota Wild, including the past 11 as their captain.

Vancouver Canucks

J.T. Miller won't play in the season opener Wednesday at the Edmonton Oilers.
General manager Jim Benning told Sportsnet 650 that Miller, who led Vancouver with 72 points (27 goals, 45 assists) in 69 games last season, defenseman Jordie Benn and forward Jayce Hawryluk aren't with the Canucks in Edmonton.
"All I can say right now is those players aren't available to us," Benning said. "We are following safety protocols, and we'll have more information to share tomorrow. That's where I am going to leave it for now."
Jake Virtanen skated in Miller's place at left wing with center Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser on the top line in practice Tuesday, and 20-year-old rookie Nils Hoglander, who will start the season on the second line, took Miller's spot on the top power-play unit.
The Canucks cancelled practice Sunday "out of an abundance of caution due to potential exposure of COVID-19" but returned Monday, when coach Travis Green said the cancellation was caused by a false positive test. Miller practiced Monday but wasn't on the ice Tuesday. Benn didn't practice Monday or Tuesday. Hawryluk hasn't practiced since leaving a scrimmage Saturday after an awkward fall. -- Kevin Woodley