Tank for the memories
Marleau will try to keep emotions out of return to San Jose
Patrick Marleau has been a Toronto Maple Leaf for 11 games. He was a San Jose Shark for 19 years — half his life. Seventeen years old when he joined the organization, drafted second overall behind future teammate Joe Thornton; 18 when he made his NHL debut. Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner were still in diapers.
While he does not appear to have tattoos anywhere on his recently turned and age-defying 38-year-old body, the Shark crest is indubitably etched on his psyche. But on Monday night, in Marleau’s highly anticipated return to the Shark Tank, when he looks up at the opposition’s teal blue jerseys — as opposed to the royal blue he now sports — he’ll see the enemy. So strange. And probably too early for Marleau-the-Leaf to feel remotely comfortable in the circumstances, but the schedule is pitiless.
“It’ll be good to get it done with,” he admits of an emotional hurdle to be overcome. “I look forward to trying to get things back on track for us and getting a win.”
Because it’s all about the Leafs now, of course, and not the club where he owns a host of franchise records: goals (508), power-play goals (160), shorthanded goals (17), game-winning goals (98) and points (1,082).
Once upon a time, Marleau was also the San Jose captain, though then-coach Todd McLellan stripped him of the “C” in a gesture both perplexing and deeply hurtful. Not all the memories are sweet.
Quiet and soft-spoken, with scant aptitude for media-pleasing quotes, Marleau is turning his stoicism to what’s expected to occur at the (unfortunatelynamed and oft rebranded) SAP Centre before the puck is dropped: career celebration and tear-jerking ceremonies. It’s become a thing now in the NHL. Mats Sundin got all leaky upon his midgame tribute when he first appeared at the Air Canada Centre as a Canuck. P.K. Subban was a puddle when feted in Montreal last season as a Nashville Predator.
Marleau sounds mortified at the prospect of weeping in public Monday night.
“There’s going to be a lot of emotions going back there. See some familiar faces on the opposite side. It’s all new to me.”
He blandly resisted reporter’s attempts to lure him into tweaking territory. Hey, know where the visitors’ dressing is? “Been there a few times during training camp.” Nobody has given him a headsup about what to expect but he’s resigned himself to the probability of a video homage and is trying to brace himself. “I have no idea what to expect. I’ll do my best to try and focus on being ready to play.”
The Saskatchewan-born Marleau may pretend that the career commemoration in front of fans to whom he was beloved as a Shark is more trial to be ascetically endured than thrill. But the occasion is significant enough that he sent wife Christina and their four sons to San Jose ahead of the Leafs so they could experience it with him.
“A couple of them are old enough to understand, the 11-year-old and the 8-year-old,” he said of the boys he took out of school for the trip. “The 6-year-old and the 3-year-old, I’m not too sure. It was important to have them there.
“And they wanted to be there to support me.”
He lined up only 11 tickets for his personal posse, mostly family including the in-laws. But the whole city felt like family during his long tenure in San Jose and he still owns a home nearby.
The Sharks without Marleau has been a jolt. It had been widely assumed he’d be a Shark for life, instead of a mere1,493 games. “I’ve spent a lot of years with him,” Thornton said on Day 1 of training camp. “It is kind of strange. It’s his birthday today too. It’s a little weird but he’s going to do great up in Toronto.”
Marleau scored a pair of goals in the season opener, rather impressive.
Skating for miles, as smoothly and fast as ever. Young teammates are in awe.
“Obviously with how many years he’s played in the league,” said Marner, who found himself on Marleau’s line in Saturday’s loss to Philadelphia. “But how good he still is, it’s pretty crazy to see.”
After dropping through of their last four games, the Leafs are hoping to get back on track in their West Coast swing. That’s the obvious priority. But several said they were looking forward to sharing Mar- leau’s This Is Your Life moment.
“It should be a good reception, to say the least,” predicted Connor Brown. “He’s given so much to that team. You become a fixture in that organization, like he was there. I can imagine how tough it was for him to leave. So it’ll be cool for him and his family when he gets back there.”
Marleau doesn’t dispute the wrenching decision to part ways with San Jose, signing a three-year, $18.5 million (U.S.) deal with the Leafs, Toronto’s marquee free-agent acquisition over the summer.
“It was the hardest decision I’ve made in my career, that’s for sure,” says Marleau.
But he had spent nearly two decades chasing a Stanley Cup in San Jose, on some excellent teams that maddeningly fell short in the playoffs.
“I just felt a good fit coming here, with the players they have, the momentum from last year. It was a good opportunity for me.”
And he’s been exactly as advertised, a reliable fixture on both the power play and the penalty kill, a veteran presence in the dressing room, a hard-working example to teammates, playoff-wizened, with a pair of Olympic gold medals and a world championship on the resume.
It was as a Leaf that he played his 1,500th NHL game earlier this month and the locker room joke was about his kids attending his 2,000th some day. His durability is quite staggering — he hasn’t missed a game since the 2008-2009 season.
Mike Babcock values his productivity and his subdued leadership.
“I don’t think he’s going to say a whole bunch, but what he’s going to do is, even when everyone else isn’t working, he’s working,” the coach said on the weekend. “It’s not what you say. (That’s) just lip service. The pros, they don’t have to say much. But when they do . . . We need in- ternal accountability. That’s why good teams win and that’s why a guy like Patrick Marleau is here.”
Post-game, post-loss, Babcock acknowledged he hadn’t even thought about the emotional maelstrom of Marleau going back to San Jose. He liked the timing, though, for the team and the player.
“He needs a 100th game winner. That would be a nice night to get it.”
A tad off on his math. Marleau is at 98.
But of course he could strike for a pair.
Multi-goal games: 66. And counting.