NHL fans might not like Florida Panthers forward Brad Marchand when he is playing against their favorite team, but he has definitely earned his place as one of the best players of his era. He helped cement that status on Thursday night with two assists in the Panthers’ 6-3 win over the Washington Capitals.
The second assist helped Marchand reach a significant career milestone.
His second assist on Thursday was his 1,000th point in the NHL, making him the 102nd player to ever reach that milestone.
It is a huge accomplishment for any player, but especially Marchand given the way he first entered the NHL. While he always had talent and produced, he was more of a role player and physical menace on his early Boston Bruins teams. It was not until about five or six years into his career that he really started to take off offensively and become a top-line scorer.
When combined with his physical play, defensive awareness and puck-possession ability, he has been one of the best two-way players in the NHL for the past decade.
He has won two Stanley Cups in his career, most recently with the Panthers during the 2024-25 season.
Even though Marchand is 37 years old, he did just sign a six-year contract extension with the Panthers this past offseason. Given that he is still producing at a high level, it is not out of the question to think that he could climb into the top 50 all-time. He is only 205 points away from that, which would only require about 50 points per season over the next four years. Asking a lot at his age? Maybe. Certainly within reason.
Alex Ovechkin and Brad Marchand had a heartfelt moment of respect after the Florida Panthers defeated the Washington Capitals 6-3 at Amerant Bank Arena.
Outside the locker room, Ovechkin and Marchand exchanged autographed jerseys and took a photo together. Russian netminder Sergei Bobrovsky, who backed up Daniil Tarasov during the game, posed to Ovechkin’s right.
“LEGENDARY,” the Panthers tweeted on X.
The jersey swap was the second time Ovechkin has exchanged sweaters with another player (at least that we know of). Ovi also did so with Evgeni Malkin after the Capitals’ latest stop at PPG Paints Arena.
While the evening ended dreadfully for the Capitals as they notched their seventh loss in nine games, Marchand had a night he’ll never forget. The Little Ball of Hate registered his 1,000th career point, a primary assist on Eetu Luostarinen’s empty-net goal.
The 37-year-old forward became the first player in Florida Panthers history to earn their 1,000th NHL point while a member of the team, and the 102nd skater in NHL history to reach 1,000 points. Marchand and Ovechkin are two of the 10 active players in the NHL who currently have 1,000 points or more.
“It’s still very surreal. I never could have imagined being a part of two incredible franchises and being so blessed to play this game as long as I have,” Marchand told Katie Engleson after the game. “The milestones come from being a part of great teams and playing with great players. Definitely something I ever thought would be whatever happened, so I’m very surprised and very proud.”
He added, “I’m having so much fun with this team. We have such an incredible group. Incredible fans. I’m just really truly enjoying every day so to be able to do it here where I’ve really grown to love this place, and my family loves it, it just puts the cherry on top of everything that’s happened here.”
Marchand got to 1,000 by scoring 435 goals and notching 565 assists. Since first entering the NHL during the 2009-10 season, he has the sixth most goals and 12th most points. Marchand is a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Boston Bruins (2011) and Panthers (2025).
Looking at the offensive numbers put up against the Browns by the Jets in Week 10, there is no conceivable reason that Cleveland should have come away with a loss. New York had a measly 54 yards passing, just 127 yards on the ground, had quarterback Justin Fields sacked three times for a loss of 12 yards, and committed the game’s lone turnover.
The Browns offense was not great by any measure, but it was certainly better than what the Jets put forth. The difference, however, was on special teams, where the Browns gave up a 99-yard kickoff return to Kene Nwangwu for a touchdown, and followed that up by yielding a 74-yard punt return to Isaiah Williams.
The two plays were separated by just a little more than 30 seconds, and put the Browns in a catch-up mode that the offense is just not prepared to handle. There were other reasons the game was lost, but special teams was a firm No. 1 on the list.
In the wake of that disaster, there were the natural knee-jerk reactions that called for the firing of special teams coach Bubba Ventrone. On the whole, the Browns’ special teams have not been bad this season, but a missed field goal in Week 1 did cost a win against the Bengals–though the special teams deserves ample credit for the impressive Week 3 win over the Packers.
Still, coach Kevin Stefanski was asked about the job security of Ventrone last week, and Stefanski essentially shrugged off any notion of firing him. “I have a ton of faith in Bubba, I have a ton of faith in our special teams,” Stefanski said.
On Thursday, Ventrone–who played for eight NFL seasons and coached 11 more–met with the media and was asked about the vote of confidence from the head coach.
“That’s good to hear,” Ventrone said. “I respect Kev a lot, and I’ll say this – I’ve been in the NFL a long time. I’ve played, I’ve coached for a long time. You know, there’s times when stuff does not go your way, and the game comes down to playing with great fundamentals and techniques. So, if you’re not doing those things, you’re going to get beat.
“Unfortunately, we’re learning the hard way right now.”
The Browns are a young team, and that’s been an overriding factor for the group–special teams has been manned by more rookies than most teams would like. Ventrone cited that as a reason for the struggles.
“It’s definitely contributed to it,” Ventrone said. “It’s not the only underlying factor. But like I said, we, just as a unit, as a collective group, we have to do a better job of playing our technique, and playing into the scheme, and just trusting that just do your job and that the guy next to you is going to do his job.
“That’s the best way to do it. The best way to play coverage is play complementary to one another, leverage, tackling. We just haven’t done a good enough job of that.”