The 25-year-old forward, who played much of last season’s second half on a professional tryout contract with the Checkers, has agreed to terms on one-way AHL deal that will bring him back to Charlotte for next season. Even prior to last season’s playoffs, he knew a contract offer was coming – the team had directly told him as much – but didn’t expect to have things more or less finalized by the beginning of June.
“I was told that they liked my style, size and physical play and I talked to (Carolina Hurricanes Vice President of Hockey Operations) Ron Francis about it at the end of the season, but I was still surprised that the ball got rolling so quickly,” said Marquart, who checks in at 6-foot-3 and 229 pounds. “It’s flattering, and you don’t want to prove them wrong or make them regret it.”
As the coaches told him throughout the season, those points – including his early goal in Game 3 against Oklahoma City that helped jump-start the Checkers to a 6-1 win – along with the eight he scored in 27 regular-season games, were added value on top of what Marquardt brought to the table on a nightly basis.
“I’m harder on myself than anyone else could ever be,” said Marquardt, who scored at least 40 goals in each of his last two seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. “There was a time when I was getting four or five chances a game but just couldn’t score, and then the coaches took me in and told me not to get upset. They said they brought me in to play hard and be physical and any scoring would be a bonus.”
That ended up being a good coaching move, one of several that helped make Marquardt’s decision to return to the organization an easy one.
“After that, I ended up scoring three games in a row,” he said.
Knowing that he’s returning to Charlotte so early in the offseason is a welcome change for Marquardt, who has played for eight different teams since turning pro in 2008. He knew he’d have a chance to return to Florida after helping the Everblades win the Kelly Cup in 2012 but was hoping for an opportunity with an AHL club – one that exactly zero players on that championship team received due to the NHL’s lockout eliminating those job openings.
“Usually when you win a championship there are always teams looking for players with that experience, but the running joke in Florida was that the only two guys who got called up were our equipment guy and our athletic therapist. It’s a breath of fresh air to know that I’m going somewhere.”
Since the expiration of his entry-level NHL contract that included stints in the Columbus, Boston and Edmonton organizations in 2011, Marquardt had begun the subsequent two seasons on ECHL contracts with Bakersfield and Florida. He thought the end of the recent lockout might give him his chance to move back up, but his opportunity didn’t arrive until February, when he replaced former Everblades teammate David Rutherford, who had suffered an injury, in the Checkers’ lineup.
“I felt like I was really ready for it,” he said. “There’s an adjustment period with a new team but I since I had played (in the AHL) before, I knew what I had to do and that I could do it. I had that confidence from being in Florida.
“Sometimes players feel that going to the (ECHL) is a demotion, but I thought it was an opportunity. I was pretty highly-touted coming out of junior, but I didn’t see it like I was getting further and further away – I knew I had to work on things to get ready. I really got to play a lot and play in a lot of situations.”
From there, the fit was immediate.
“I can’t say enough about the way the players took me and everyone else in,” he said. “They didn’t see us as call-ups – they really helped us out and encouraged us.”
Marquardt will now spend the rest of the summer training and hoping for a invite to Carolina’s training camp, which could be a possibility depending on its size and the makeup of the organizational roster at that time. He’ll continue to take things one step at a time, as he did for every day of his tryout last season, but the NHL remains his ultimate goal.
“The opportunity is still there and there’s always room to grow, especially with the close relationship between Charlotte and Carolina and the way they develop players,” he said. “(The coaches) aren’t yelling and screaming - they’re good communicators and are always willing to listen. They praise you for what you’re doing well and help you along with what you can improve. I’ve played for coaches where you don’t know those things, and if you heard from the coaches it was always bad.
“It’s a comfort level for me at this point in my career, and I have nothing but amazing things to say about my experience in Charlotte so far.”
