Jonathan Marchessault returns to Tampa Bay on Tuesday night as the leading scorer of his new team, the rival Florida Panthers. But the 25-year-old winger certainly doesn't have an ax to grind with the Lightning, grateful for what they did for him, but also gratified that he made the right decision to leave this summer in order to find a more stable gig.
"That was the biggest thing, just wanted to be a guy that could play all his games in the NHL and be able to show what he can do," Marchessault said Monday afternoon over the phone. "When I talked to Florida management, they told me they saw me in a bigger role and able to play in all the games and on a good line. That's just what I wanted, is to play more in the NHL."
He would have been penciled in for a third-line role with Florida this season, which was fine for him, but a long-term injury to Jonathan Huberdeau has opened up first-line duty, and Marchessault has responded with two goals and two assists in two games to open the season.
Panthers GM Tom Rowe coached against Marchessault in the AHL during the years, so he knew the player. Last season, Rowe and Panthers coach Gerard Gallant were at a Lightning game in Tampa when Marchessault was discussed.
"I told Gerard, 'If the opportunity ever presented itself, he's a kid we [are] going to target come free agency,"' Rowe said over the phone Tuesday. "A lot of us here had done research on him. We always liked his skill, on top of that, we liked how he competed."
Marchessault is playing on a line with center Aleksander Barkov and winger Jaromir Jagr. OK, then.
"I think those two guys could find chemistry with pretty much anyone," said Marchessault, chuckling. "I'm just happy to be able to be on their line and be successful right now. Every game, we're trying to know how each other plays."
His early season success is no surprise to his old coach in Tampa.
"Coached against him enough in the minors to know he was a scoring threat every time he was on the ice," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said Monday night via text message. "Special skills when he is around the net. Needed to raise his competition [level] and he did ... that is why he is a regular now. Great locker room guy as well ... has some swag!"
Marchessault has a certain kind of confidence, which he probably needs, given that he was never drafted and that he's 5-foot-8, 184 pounds.
"He's got good hands but he's also cocky -- in a good way," said another Eastern Conference coach. "He believes in himself. He was stuck in Tampa behind [Jonathan] Drouin, [Nikita] Kucherov and [Ryan] Callahan on the right side, that's not easy."
He was stuck, period, behind a lot of guys in Tampa.
"They've had the same 11 forwards for most of the last three years," said Marchessault, who appeared in 45 games with the Lightning last season, putting up 18 points. "It's just a really good group of hockey players and it was hard to be in the lineup every night."
So when free agency beckoned this summer, he looked for a better opportunity.
"[The Lightning] had salary-cap concerns but it was never a question of money for me, it was a question to play more in the NHL," said Marchessault, who signed a two-year deal worth $750,000 a year with the Panthers. "I loved Tampa, they're a world-class organization, the coaching staff, teammates, everything was unreal over there. It's just about thinking about your career a bit more and that's what I did this summer."
It's not like Lightning GM Steve Yzerman didn't want him back, because he likes the player. But it's an example yet again of the salary-cap system and its impact, organizations can't horde talent, they can only keep so many guys. So while the Bolts saw the talent in Marchessault when most other teams did not, they're so loaded up front that keeping him as a depth guy was a luxury they couldn't have.
As for Marchessault, he's out to prove he's not a fringe player but a player who can produce in the NHL.
"I mean, I was never drafted in the NHL, I was only drafted 12th round in junior hockey. Nobody really expected me to be productive," he said. "I just keep surprising people. I always produced in the AHL. I just never really got the chance and I knew I would deliver if I ever got it."