In November, Patrick Marleau’s name was brought up in trade speculation. He would’ve reportedly accepted trades to three teams: Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers.
By June, he was still with the San Jose Sharks competing for the Stanley Cup. Ultimately, they fell short of the championship after a six-game series with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who were simply dominant at times in the final.
Marleau has spent his entire career in San Jose -- 1,411 regular season games and 1,036 points. In his 18 seasons, he had been through the worst and the best with that franchise, from a historical playoff collapse to making the final for the first time in Sharks’ history.
After being mentioned in trade talk earlier in the season and with the off-season now here, Marleau faced questions once again about his future in San Jose.
“Yeah, I have a contract for next year, so looking forward to it,” Marleau said.
Is it his first choice to be a Shark? “Yeah.”
It was concise – not atypical for Marleau – but still not overly convincing.
There were signs throughout the postseason, too, that perhaps Marleau and DeBoer weren’t exactly seeing eye-to-eye. During the Kings series, DeBoer suggested that he and Marleau didn’t always agree on his role. In the Western Conference Final, the coach responded to a question about how he decides whether to play Marleau as the third line center or second line wing.
At the age of 36, Marleau has one more year remaining on his contract, as he indicated. It comes with a cap hit of $6,666,666 and a no-movement clause.
He scored 25 goals and 48 points in the regular season and 13 points in 24 playoff games.
Related: Trade talk: Preds aren’t done shopping, latest on Marleau, Drouin