WILMINGTON -- As Brad Marchand and the Bruins took the ice for their first veterans practice of 2011, he seemed to be the same No. 63 who earned a cult following as a rookie in the team's Stanley Cup-winning 2010-11 campaign. He was the same size displayed the same temperment -- giving Chris Kelly, a puzzlingly common target for the happy-go-lucky Marchand's antics, a hard time. After the practice he was quick to make fun of former teammate Michael Ryder for having the Cup fall off a table on his day with the trophy.

"I think Rydes is a pretty safe bet," Marchand said when asked who he would have guessed would dent the Cup. "He definitely made the top of most guys' lists." 

Yet, as is always the case with Marchand, there's a time for the funny stuff and there's a time for business. Last season, Marchand would often give the media a good laugh, whether it was his line in April about how the team's playoff strategy was to "carry Chris Kelly," or his comments about how the Green Men of Vancouver were too ugly to show their faces, but he would take care of business on the ice. That came in the form of a 21-goal regular season and an 11-goal playoff performance, including a pair of tallies in the Cup-clinching Game 7 win over the Canucks. 

Now, for a player who was a sure thing on the ice a season ago, it's the business that has things at a highly confusing point. Marchand remains without a contract with the open of training camp just over a week away. He was present for the start of the voluntary veterans practices, but would he actually report for the start of training camp without a contract done?

“I’m not thinking that far ahead right now,” Marchand said after Thursday's skate. “It’s just day to day, and hopefully it gets done before then.”

You can't blame a guy for saying the right things, but at this point both sides are likely considering the possibility of the defending champions opening camp with one of their playoff heroes unsigned. Marchand showed good faith by showing up to the practice without a contract, but common sense would suggest Marchand would be better off playing it safe and not participating in the rigors of the actual training camp until he knows he's getting paid. After all, if Marchand gets injured in camp, he'll have put himself in a difficult situation. He wouldn't say whether he would sit out camp without a deal, but he would certainly be smart to consider it. 

There's also the possibility that the sides can reach an agreement before camp opens, thus preventing the guessing game from having to be played. Marchand's agent, Wade Arnott, told Comcast Sportsnet recently that the negotiations could last into camp, meaning that rather than looking at the matter at hand -- preparing for the coming season -- the Bruins could have their hands full as they try to come to terms with one of their best young players. 

For the Bruins, this is nothing new. They couldn't get a deal done with restricted free agent Phil Kessel (also represented by Arnott) after a summer full of negotiating, and they eventually traded him to the Maple Leafs in mid September. That trade brought great returns for the Bruins (the picks acquired in the deal were spent on Tyler Seguin, Jared Knight and Dougie Hamilton, with Seguin and Hamilton being top 10 picks in their respective drafts), but Marchand doesn't believe this is a case of history repeating itself just because of his agent. 

"I've never thought about that," Marchand when asked about the similarities between Kessel's negotiations with the Bruins and his own. "I know [Arnott] was [Kessel's] agent, but it's a completely different situation." 

It certainly is a different situation from Kessel who was coming off a 36-goal regular season when he was a restricted free agent. Marchand is coming off a summer in which photos popped up everywhere of him celebrating the team's victory over the Canucks in wild fashion. At the Stanley Cup DVD premier, Sean Thornton even joked about Marchand's shaved chest. Marchand was adamant Thursday that his celebrations did not get the best of him, and that he's in as good of shape as he's ever been. 

"I had my fun for a week or two, but I trained a lot harder after that," Marchand said of his summer.

As for the partying, Marchand admitted that his celebrating may have been excessive at times, but that if there was any time to go all out, that was it.  

"We won the Stanley Cup," he said. "I'm 23 years old. Maybe I went a little harder than I should have, but it's something that we've dreamed of our whole lives. That's all it was."

Now, done with the celebrating and looking ahead to simply playing hockey, Marchand must face a little more uncertainty -- at least until a deal can be finished up. While confusion or frustration are understandable feelings for the Nova Scotia native to feel given his situation, he stayed away from those words Thursday.

"I'm anxious for it to be done, but I just want to be here and be on the ice with the guys," Marchand said. "That's all I'm really looking forward to."

Whether anyone can look forward to seeing him on the ice at the start of camp is anybody's guess.