Sharks' Marleau comments on trade rumors: report

San Jose Sharks forward Patrick Marleau on Wednesday addressed trade rumors involving him.

"I'm not going to get into specifics or anything like that," Marleau told CSN Bay Area. "There's always been rumors in my career. I don't really want to feed into it anymore or comment on it. I don't want it to become a distraction or anything."

Sportsnet reported Marleau was possibly being offered in a trade, followed by a CSN report that said he would waive his no-trade clause to play for the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings or New York Rangers.

Marleau has two years left on a three-year, $20 million contract, according to war-on-ice.com, an average annual value of $6.67 million.

The leading scorer in Sharks history, the 36-year-old needs three points to reach 1,000 in the NHL. The San Jose captain from 2003-09, Marleau this season is a part-time alternate captain under first-year coach Peter DeBoer (Joe Pavelski is captain, succeeding Joe Thornton).

"Obviously, as a human, when you had that in the past and it's taken away, you feel that a little bit," Marleau said. "But I think it's in the past. It's not going to change what I do or what I bring to the rink every day."

DeBoer said he has not seen a change in Marleau's approach.

"To his credit, he was very professional about it," DeBoer said. "The reality is, we knew that we had a lot of potential leadership candidates and there are only so many to go around. Where he stands in that group I think is evidenced by the fact that the first time somebody went down, he got a letter.

"He's an important part, and I think we made that clear right from Day One. As far as those feelings, if he told you those were them, I never saw that. That's a credit to him and his professionalism."

Marleau, the No. 2 pick in the 1997 NHL Draft, has played his entire NHL career for the Sharks (1,344 games).

"I've been here forever and it's been a great place to play," Marleau said.