{"id":462250,"date":"2026-02-18T17:26:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T17:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/462250\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T17:26:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T17:26:19","slug":"canadas-brad-marchand-admits-fears-of-being-the-extra-guy-in-2026-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/462250\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada&#8217;s Brad Marchand admits fears of being the &#8216;extra guy&#8217; in 2026 Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/tag\/brad-marchand\/\" id=\"975\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brad Marchand<\/a> admitted he did not expect to play a major role for Canada men\u2019s national ice hockey team at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/tag\/2026-winter-olympics\/\" id=\"14614\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2026 Winter Olympics<\/a>. The veteran forward practiced without limitation this week and is set to return after sitting out the past two games.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to reporters, Marchand said he believed he would enter the tournament as the extra forward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo be honest, coming in, I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d be in the lineup,\u201d Marchand said, via Luke Fox on X. \u201cI thought I\u2019d kinda be the extra guy and be a voice. Try to be loud and obnoxious in the room. So, I mean, I\u2019m just so proud and honoured to be part of this group.\u201d<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Brad Marchand: &#8220;To be honest, coming in, I didn&#8217;t think I&#8217;d be in the lineup. I thought I&#8217;d kinda be the extra guy and be a voice. Try to be loud and obnoxious in the room. So, I mean, I&#8217;m just so proud and honoured to be part of this group.&#8221; \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 luke fox (@lukefoxjukebox) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lukefoxjukebox\/status\/2023780888065307132?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">February 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Marchand was selected to Canada\u2019s roster to provide experience and grit, considering Marchand\u2019s expertise in rat tactics. Despite dealing with an upper-body injury before the Olympic break, he produced 50 points in 46 games this season for the Florida Panthers. He has 25 goals and 25 assists, and this season he has also passed 1,000 career NHL points.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just such a fine line to want to feel really good going to the Olympics,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ABaumgartner91\/status\/2019258953264193918?s=20\" id=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ABaumgartner91\/status\/2019258953264193918?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Marchand said<\/a> about his injury in early February. \u201c\u2026But it felt good. I wasn\u2019t really concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>How did Brad Marchand perform in Canada\u2019s Olympics opener?<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1680\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/default-701-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-123615\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Feb 12, 2026; Milan, Italy; Brad Marchand of Canada in action with Lukas Sedlak of Czechia in a men\u2019s ice hockey group A match during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>At the Olympics, Marchand played in Canada\u2019s 5-0 opening win over Czechia and recorded one assist in limited ice time. He was then scratched for games against Switzerland and France as the staff managed his health ahead of the knockout round.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Canada has dominated the tournament so far. The group finished 3-0 in preliminary play, outscoring opponents 20-3. Led by alternate captain <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/tag\/connor-mcdavid\/\" id=\"1049\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Connor McDavid<\/a> and veteran captain Sidney Crosby, Canada earned the No. 1 overall seed and a quarterfinal matchup against Czechia.<\/p>\n<p>Marchand now returns to a team that has gained confidence. While he serves in a depth role rather than a top-line spot, his experience in big moments could matter at this stage.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brad Marchand admitted he did not expect to play a major role for Canada men\u2019s national ice hockey&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5102],"tags":[3189,254,62,57,5141,5,4,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-462250","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida-panthers","8":"tag-2026-winter-olympics","9":"tag-brad-marchand","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-panthers","12":"tag-floridapanthers","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}