Marleau could be back next season
San Jose Sharks general manager Doug Wilson strongly hinted Friday that Patrick Marleau could soon rejoin the team for next season as he starts to approach Gordie Howe’s all-time record for games played in the NHL.
Marleau has played 1,723 NHL games over 22 seasons, including 1,551 games over 20 seasons with the Sharks. Marleau, 41, is fifth on the NHL’s all-time games played list, and needs to play 45 more to pass Howe, one of the game’s all-time greats, who had 1,767 games over 26 seasons in the league.
“Players of that nature and the respect for them, where they’re at in their career and what they’ve meant to this franchise, treating them with great respect is something that’s extremely important to us and our organization,” Wilson said. “Hopefully we’ll have some news in that area in the next little while.”
Wilson spoke Friday shortly after the Sharks announced they had re-signed winger Stefan Noesen to a one-year contract, the only deal the team finalized on the first day of free agency.
The Sharks parted ways with goalie Aaron Dell and forward Melker Karlsson, who both became unrestricted free agents.
Dell’s future was decided when the Sharks acquired Devan Dubnyk from the Minnesota Wild and Karlsson’s agent, Claude Lemieux, said the 30-year- old winger would not be re-signing with San Jose. Dell and Karlsson had spent five and six seasons with the Sharks organization, respectively.
“Really appreciate what they did and how they came in and worked for us,” Wilson said of Dell and Karlsson, adding that it’s also time for new players like goalie Alexei Melnichuk, defenseman Brinson Pasichnuk and forward Fredrik Hande mark to get their chance.
Otherwise, the Sharks were quiet on the first day UFAs could sign with other teams. Wilson did most of his heavy lifting Monday by trading for Dubnyk and forward Ryan Donato and wasn’t interested in adding an older player on a long-term contract.
The Sharks and every other NHL team are dealing with a salary cap that remained flat this season at $81.5 million and is not expected to rise much after next season thanks to the financial ramifications of the pandemic.