Marleau could simply be described as Mr. Shark. A San Jose Sharks captain from 2003-09, he is at or near the top of several categories in the franchise record books.
He played his 1,400th NHL game March 19, 2016 against the New York Rangers, becoming the 36th player in League history to play that many games. Marleau, then 36 years old, also was the youngest player in NHL history to reach that milestone; when he was 35, he had become the youngest to play 1,300 games.
Marleau could simply be described as Mr. Shark. A San Jose Sharks captain from 2003-09, he is at or near the top of several categories in the franchise record books.
He played his 1,400th NHL game March 19, 2016 against the New York Rangers, becoming the 36th player in League history to play that many games. Marleau, then 36 years old, also was the youngest player in NHL history to reach that milestone; when he was 35, he had become the youngest to play 1,300 games.
On Nov. 21, 2015, Marleau got an assist against the Pittsburgh Penguins for his 1,000th career point.
Marleau, selected by San Jose with the No. 2 pick in the 1997 NHL Draft, was the youngest player in that class at 17 years, nine months and six days of age; his birthday, Sept. 15, was the cutoff for draft eligibility. Entering the draft off a 51-goal season for Seattle of the Western Hockey League, Marleau jumped right into San Jose's lineup at 18 without having played a minor-league game.
Marleau tied for fifth among NHL rookies with 13 goals in 1997-98. When he scored his first NHL goal Oct. 19, 1997 against the then-Phoenix Coyotes at 18 years and 34 days of age, he became the second-youngest player to score an NHL goal since World War II, trailing only the Chicago Blackhawks' Grant Mulvey, who was 18 years and 32 days old when he did it Oct 19, 1974.
In 2012-13, Marleau joined Cy Denneny of the 1917-18 Ottawa Senators as the only players to open an NHL season with four straight multigoal games.
In 2015-16, Marleau and Joe Thornton, the player drafted ahead of him in 1997, by the Boston Bruins, helped the Sharks reach their first Stanley Cup Final. The two often played on the same power-play unit.
NOTES & TRANSACTIONS
- WHL West First All-Star Team (1997)
- Played in NHL All-Star Game (2004, 2007, 2009)
- Signed as a free agent by Toronto, July 2, 2017.
- Traded to Carolina by Toronto with Toronto's 1st-round pick in 2020 or 2021 NHL Draft and 7th-round pick in 2020 NHL Draft for Carolina's 6th-round pick in 2020 NHL Draft, June 22, 2019.
