Patrick Marleau, Sharks reach agreement to bring veteran back to San Jose
The San Jose Sharks announced on Tuesday that they’ve signed franchise legend Patrick Marleau to a one-year contract.
The deal is reportedly worth $700,000, according to Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. As a result, he’ll make the league-minimum with his former team, as well as the $6.25 million that the Carolina Hurricanes are on the hook for after buying him out before the season got underway.
The 40-year-old returns to San Jose following a couple of campaigns with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Before his time north of the border, the native of Swift Current, Saskatchewan, played the first 19 seasons of his NHL career with the Sharks.
The Hurricanes absorbed the final year of his three-year contract with the Maple Leafs in exchange for Toronto’s first-round selection in the 2020 NHL Draft.
Earlier in the day, Joe Thornton — who is now no longer the only 40-year-old on the roster — spoke about how Marleau is still more than capable of playing at the NHL level.
“He should be playing somewhere,” Thornton said, according to Kevin Kurz of The Athletic. “I expect he’ll be somewhere soon. He skates with us in the summer and he’s still the best skater on the ice.”
Marleau, unsurprisingly, is San Jose’s franchise leader in games played, goals, points, power play goals and game-winning goals, according to Sportsnet Stats.
While many Sharks fans were pleased with the move as a response to their lineup’s early struggles when it comes to staying healthy and producing offence, nobody was more excited than Marleau’s wife, Christina.
“Patty Shark doo doo doo doo doo!!!!!” she tweeted shortly after the news became official in reference to the international musical earworm, “Baby Shark.”
With the couple raising four boys under the age of 13, we’re sure that’s a song that’s been played in their house plenty of times. Don’t expect that to change with Marleau slapping the Sharks’ logo on the front of his jersey once again.
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