Patrick Marleau
Patrick Denis Marleau is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward. With 1,779 NHL games played, he is the all-time leader in regular season games played in league history. He passed the record previously held by Gordie Howe in his 1,768th game on April 19, 2021. Marleau scored 1,197 points during his entire NHL career. The San Jose Sharks drafted Marleau second overall in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, and Marleau spent the vast majority of his NHL career with the franchise, becoming its all-time leader in goals, even strength goals, power play goals, points, shots, and games played. Marleau is also the fourth player in National Hockey League history to record 900 consecutive games played, reaching the mark one game after breaking the overall games played record. He was the third-last active player who played in the NHL in the 1990s, with the other being Zdeno Chára and longtime teammate Joe Thornton.
Marleau is one of just five NHL players to play 1,400 games with one team, and the youngest to reach both the 1,300- and 1,400-game marks. He was seven games short of becoming the youngest player to play in 1,500 games with one team before signing with his second team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, in 2017. After two seasons with Toronto, he returned to San Jose in 2019, and was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins before the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs. After failing to win a Stanley Cup, Marleau returned to the Sharks as a free agent for the 2020–21 season, his final season. Marleau holds the distinction of playing the most NHL games without winning the Stanley Cup, an active streak as of the end of the 2023–24 season. His number, 12, was retired by the Sharks on February 25, 2023.
Internationally, Marleau won gold medals with Canada at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics. Marleau, one of the most important players of the Sharks for nearly 20 seasons, was known as one of the fastest skaters in the NHL and exhibited a high standard of playing ability combined with gentlemanly conduct. This earned him two nominations for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy and made him a popular player both among fans and his professional peers.
Early years
Marleau was born in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, to parents Denis and Jeanette Marleau and grew up on his family farm near Aneroid. A sign near Saskatchewan Highway 13, just outside Aneroid, proclaims that it is Marleau's hometown. His parents have said they knew Marleau had a special talent when he was playing with 16- and 17-year-old players as a 14-year-old at the 1995 Canada Games in Grande Prairie and was interviewed by Hockey Night in Canada reporter Scott Oake.Playing career
Junior career
Marleau's junior hockey career took him to the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League, where he played two seasons. In his rookie campaign in 1995–96, Marleau exploded onto the scene in Seattle scoring 32 goals and 74 points, leading his team to a playoff loss to the defending Memorial Cup champions, the Kamloops Blazers, featuring future NHL star Jarome Iginla. The series ended 4–1, but Seattle took three of the losses to overtime before the Blazers won.During the 1996–97 season, Marleau was named captain of the Thunderbirds and led them to a second-place finish, behind the Portland Winter Hawks, in the Western Conference during the regular season. Marleau improved to 51 goals and 125 points, finishing top-three in the WHL in both categories. In the playoffs, Marleau led the Thunderbirds to the club's first Western Conference Championship before the team bowed out in the WHL Finals to the eventual Memorial Cup runner-up Lethbridge Hurricanes in four games. Marleau finished second in the WHL's Player of the Year voting, losing to Peter Schaefer of the Brandon Wheat Kings.
Professional (1997–2021)
San Jose Sharks (1997–2017)
Following his second year of major junior, Marleau was drafted second overall by the San Jose Sharks in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, behind future Sharks teammate Joe Thornton, who was selected by the Boston Bruins. Although he struggled early in his career, Marleau learned to combine his excellent offensive talents with defensive prowess from former Sharks head coach Darryl Sutter.File:Michael Cammalleri and Patrick Marleau.jpg|thumb|left|Marleau with the San Jose Sharks in December 2006. During the 2006–07 season, he became the Sharks' all-time regular season leader in goals, and points.
Marleau was the youngest player in the 1997 draft class, and he debuted immediately at the start of the 1997–98 season. This conceptually makes him the youngest player to ever play in the NHL.
With the departure of five-year captain Owen Nolan following the 2002–03 season, the Sharks employed a rotating captaincy for the first half of the 2003–04 season, seeing Mike Ricci, Vincent Damphousse and Alyn McCauley wear the "C" before the captaincy was permanently awarded to Marleau midway through the season. The new captain went on to match his previous personal high of 57 points from 2002 to 2003.
During the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Marleau was inactive during the season but returned in 2005–06, having just signed a new three-year, US$12.5 million contract in August 2005, with a breakout season, becoming a point-per-game player with career-highs of 34 goals, 52 assists and 86 points in 82 games. New rule changes implemented by the NHL at the start of the first season back from the lockout that emphasized speed may have contributed to Marleau's successful campaign. In a game against the Colorado Avalanche on March 19, 2006, Marleau scored two goals to acquire his 400th career point, edging him closer to Owen Nolan's franchise mark of 451 points. Near the halfway point of the season, the Sharks acquired superstar Joe Thornton from the Boston Bruins. Thornton was also the only player picked ahead of Marleau in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft. The Sharks were quickly considered a contender once acquiring "Jumbo Joe", but were upset by the eighth-seeded Edmonton Oilers in the second round. At the end of the season, Marleau was voted one of three finalists for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, awarded to the NHL's most gentlemanly player, but lost out to Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings.
File:PattyMarleau12.jpg|thumb|Marleau captained the Sharks from 2004 to 2009.
In 2006–07, Marleau passed Owen Nolan's franchise marks for goals, assists and points all within a few weeks. On January 4, 2007, he passed Nolan's 451-point mark with a goal and three assists in a win against the Detroit Red Wings. He then scored his 207th goal a week later on January 11 in a win against the Los Angeles Kings. Marleau continued at a point-per-game pace on the season with 78 points in 77 games, ranking second on the team in each category. In January 2007, Marleau played in his second NHL All-Star Game, scoring a goal. However, with high expectations for the playoffs, the Sharks were eliminated by Detroit in the second round in six games. In the off-season, Marleau signed a two-year, $12.6 million contract extension in August 2007 to keep him with the Sharks until the end of the 2009–10 season.
The following season, Marleau reached the 500-point mark for his career against the Phoenix Coyotes on November 14, 2007. However, his production for the season dipped to just 48 points, his lowest total since the 2001–02 season. In the 2008 playoffs, Marleau became the first NHL player since Brett Hull in 2002 to score shorthanded goals on consecutive days in the playoffs when he scored back-to-back shorthanded markers in Games 3 and 4 of the Western Conference Semi-final against the Dallas Stars. Despite his efforts, which included eight points in 13 games total for the playoffs, the Sharks were eliminated in the second round for the third consecutive year.
In the midst of a rejuvenated year for Marleau, overcoming his previous season's dismal offensive output, he was selected to the 2009 NHL All-Star Game in Montreal, replacing the injured Pavel Datsyuk.
In the summer of 2009, Marleau was removed as captain by head coach Todd McLellan. Rob Blake was named captain on September 30, 2009. Later in the year, while Blake was injured, Marleau was promoted to alternate captain, joining Joe Thornton and Dan Boyle.
On November 27, 2009, Marleau notched a hat-trick against the Edmonton Oilers. His third goal of the game was a shorthanded marker to tie the game 4–4; the Sharks finished the game with a score of 5–4 in a shootout. On December 1, 2009, Marleau played in his 900th career NHL game and notched two goals in a 5–2 win over the Ottawa Senators. On December 26, 2009, Marleau scored his 300th career goal in a 5–2 win over the Anaheim Ducks. On January 12, 2010, Marleau scored his 30th goal against the Phoenix Coyotes to become the fastest player in franchise history to score 30 goals in just 47 games. It was also the first time a Sharks player was the first NHL player to reach 30 goals. In the 2010 playoffs, Marleau scored the game-winning goal in Games 3 and 5 in the second round against the Detroit Red Wings, then scored five of the Sharks' seven goals in a sweep at the hands of the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Chicago Blackhawks.
On June 24, 2010, Marleau chose to not test the free agent waters and instead re-signed with the Sharks to a four-year contract worth $27.6 million.
On January 17, 2011, Marleau played his 1,000th career game and scored an early goal against the Phoenix Coyotes, becoming the third-quickest player to 1,000 career NHL games as measured by age, as well as the youngest player in NHL history to reach the milestone with the same franchise.
Once the 2012–13 NHL lockout had concluded, Marleau got off to one of the best offensive starts in NHL history. He scored two goals in each of San Jose's first four games, then coming one goal short of five-straight multi-goal games, becoming only the second player in NHL history to open a season with four straight multi-goal games. The only other player to do it was Cy Denneny with the original Ottawa Senators in 1917–18. On March 10, 2013, against the Colorado Avalanche, Marleau scored his 400th career goal after failing to score in the previous six games. However, the Sharks lost the game 3–2. In the 2013 playoffs, Marleau scored his 57th career playoff goal, the second most of all active players, and 37th all-time. Marleau scored the most shots and goals with the Sharks in the postseason, and ended the season with 17 goals, 150 shots, and six, eight and 14 goals, assists and points, respectively, on powerplays, both ranking second on the team. Marleau also ranked third on the team with 31 points.
On January 24, 2014, Marleau signed a three-year contract extension with the Sharks through to the 2017 season. At the end of the 2013–14 season, Marleau ranked second in goals on the Sharks and was named a finalist for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for the second time, this time losing to Ryan O'Reilly.
On August 20, 2014, Sharks head coach Todd McLellan announced that the Sharks would start training camp for the 2014–15 season without a captain or alternates; he specified Marleau would have the opportunity to "earn back" a letter during camp.
On January 11, 2016, Marleau played in his 500th consecutive game.
On March 19, 2016, Marleau became the youngest player to play in his 1,400th NHL game, becoming 1 of only 36 players to accomplish this feat.
On January 23, 2017, against the Colorado Avalanche, Marleau scored four goals for the first time in his career, all in the third period, three of which came in 7:42.
On February 2, 2017, against the Vancouver Canucks, Marleau scored his 500th career goal, the 45th player in NHL history to do so, and only the 17th player to do so with his original team.