Now that the smoke has cleared from the fireworks at the NHL trade deadline, Brad Marchand and Mitch Marner are the centre of the hockey universe as the league calendar enters its stretch run. You won’t need to adjust your screen, but few could fault you for the impetus, as Marchand in a Florida Panthers uniform seems downright weird. Marchand naturally had to correct himself in his introductory press conference when asked about the Panthers’ previous matchups against the Boston Bruins, and he’s the most compelling part of a championship team firmly tasked with repeating in a treacherous field.

“When the trade happened, I was disappointed and I was sad,” Marchand said Monday. “But I’m still extremely grateful that I get to come to an incredible place, an incredible team, a very, very, very competitive team. That’s what you want. Ultimately, we chase the Stanley Cup, and you want a chance at playing for that every single year.”

It’s a new chapter in his life, and now Marchand is tasked with helping lead one of his former rivals to another tier of greatness, as the Panthers went all-in at the deadline to bolster its contending roster. The 36-year-old took line rushes with Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe on Monday, a line that would provide top-tier scoring prowess, defensive responsibility and opportunism off the rush. It’s almost galling to write, all the while knowing Marner, Auston Matthews, and Matthew Knies aren’t a line to take lightly. Marchand isn’t expected to return until the end of the regular season, but he’s travelling with the Panthers, with the goal of playing before the playoffs begin. You could write Thursday’s contest off as Game 65 of a taxing regular season, but this one has an aura of a heavyweight fight, perhaps a precursor to what lies ahead this spring.

If past loyalties and new beginnings are paramount to Marchand’s new narrative, Marner has been thrust into the national spotlight, where past loyalties and new beginnings could become part of his narrative as well. Marner refused to move his no-trade clause in a potential deal for Mikko Rantanen, where he was well within his own rights to do so, but the aftermath has created some uncomfortable realities around the Maple Leafs’ star playmaker heading into the spring.

It was always on the table, of course, but now that a real superstar was offered for Marner, on-record, the unthinkable possibility of him leaving in free agency with no assets in return has become more than plausible, a nightmare scenario that could make him the most reviled athlete in Toronto’s civic history. It doesn’t have to be this way, of course, and Marner has said multiple times that he wants to remain with the Maple Leafs. If he signs an extension, he’s immediately one of the all-time great Leafs — and it’s the outcome that many Leafs and analysts want as well! Marner is in the middle of the best season of his career, where he’s posted 21 goals and 80 points in 63 games while operating as the team’s leading penalty killer. There’s some additional weight heading into the most important playoff run of Marner’s career — and it’s not solely on him, as Matthews, William Nylander and Tavares, who is also on an expiring contract but is widely expected to re-sign — share the responsibilities here.

If you’re just here for the hockey, that’s also fine. Florida and Toronto are battling for the Atlantic Division lead, with the reigning champs holding a two-point lead with a game in hand. Marchand and Marner became fast friends at the 4 Nations Face-Off, and through some commonalities, with circumstantial differences, they share a few common narratives. Marchand spent his entire career with the Bruins and won a Stanley Cup when he was 22 years old, with an all-time Game 7 performance. Marner has admired the Maple Leafs since he was a young kid, and he could become a franchise legend with one signature performance, or really, just one signature on a contract.

Toronto is often thought to be the centre of the hockey universe, a label that can be met with derision from other parts of the country. Marchand and Marner at the forefront of the hockey universe at Scotiabank Arena tonight; that much is undeniable.