Marleau ready to roll with the kids

TORONTO — Patrick Marleau took the kids to school on Tuesday. And no, it wasn’t a euphemism for showing Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and the other teenagers on the Maple Leafs the ropes.

While the veteran is expected to be the unofficial Father Figure for a young team on the rise, on this day he was just being Dad to his two oldest kids as they started grade school in a new city in a new country.

It was an emotional day. Aside from when his wife shed tears at the sight of him in a Leafs jersey — “I think wearing the same jersey for that many years was different for her to see,” he said — it might have been the first time Marleau’s decision to leave San Jose after 19 good years felt real.

“They’re not letting on too much, but I feel for them,” Marleau, who spent Tuesday watching a group of Leafs practice informally at the team’s training facility, said of his sons. “I know they left friends and family, but it’s a good chance to make new friends.”

For Marleau, coming to Toronto is more of the same. Leaving the Sharks, the team that drafted and made him captain, and where he met his wife and started his family, is a bit scary. And yet, there’s something exciting about this opportunity.

Next Friday is Marleau’s 38th birthday, so the winger’s best years are probably behind him. But the Leafs, who signed him to a three-year deal worth US$18.75 million, are betting that he still has plenty more left in the tank.

They view Marleau as a top-line option for Matthews, someone who will not only show the kids the ropes but also provide a young team with the necessary experience to take that next step towards Stanley Cup contender.

On that end, it wasn’t surprising that the Leafs were interested in Marleau, who scored 27 goals last season and can still get around the ice with ease. What’s curious is that Marleau was interested in the Leafs.

In San Jose, he left a team that has made the playoffs in 12 of the last 13 seasons and reached the Cup final in 2015-16. There was stability and comfort there. But similar to Milan Lucic’s decision to sign with the Edmonton Oilers a year ago, Marleau saw what Toronto was building towards and just couldn’t resist being a part of something from the ground up.

“I think being in the playoffs last year, you don’t really see it as a rebuilding team,” Marleau said. “I think they’re a playoff team. They’re a team that’s up and coming.”