Blackhawks edge Sharks 4-3 in shootout, Marleau’s No. 12 retired

In a special tribute to former San Jose Shark Patrick Marleau he is joined by former Shark teammates Joe Thornton (center) and Kelly Hrudey (right) to retire his old number 12 at SAP Center in San Jose on Sat Feb 25, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Daniel Dullum
Saturday, February 25, 2023

Chicago goaltender Petr Mrazek made 45 saves, stopped all three shootout attempts by San Jose, and led the Blackhawks past the Sharks 4-3 Saturday on Patrick Marleau Night at SAP Center.

Marleau had his No. 12 retired by the Sharks, a first in team history. He played 21 of his 23 NHL seasons for San Jose before retiring in 2021. Marleau broke Gordie Howe’s record for NHL games played with 1,779. He holds Sharks records for games played (1,607), goals (522) and points (1,111).

Philipp Kurashev scored the only goal in the shootout, giving Chicago (21-32-5, 47 points) its longest winning streak since winning five in a row in January 2020.

Also scoring for the Blackhawks, David Gust with his first career goal, Brett Seney had his first goal in four years and Max Domi. Nick Bonino Evgeny Svechnikov and Erik Karlsson all scored for the Sharks (18-30-12, 48 points), who have lost five of their last six games. San Jose goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen was credited with 32 saves.

Domi scored on the opening shift of the third period to put Chicago ahead 3-2. Karlsson answered for San Jose with a goal with 2:11 remaining after the Sharks pulled Kahkonen for a sixth attacker.

The 29-year-old Gust scored on his first shift in the first period when he deflected a pass from Colin Blackwell past Kahkonen. Gust and Eddie Olczyk are the only Illinois natives to score in their NHL debuts with Chicago.

After Bonino tied it for the Sharks, Seney scored on a rush for his first goal since Feb. 9, 2019, when he played for the New Jersey Devils. Svechnikov then scored for the Sharks to tie the game at 2-2.

The Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane flew back to Chicago as trade talks with the New York Rangers began to heat up. Kane has a no-movement clause in his contract and must approve any deal. Sharks forward Timo Meier, who is also mentioned in trade talks, missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury that is not considered serious.

The Sharks host Montreal on Tuesday.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Len Shapiro: Marleau retires from hockey after setting Sharks franchise records

Former San Jose Sharks forward Patrick Marleau who retires from hockey after 23 years, set a number of San Jose franchise records and will have his number 12 eventually retired and hoisted in the SAP Center rafters. (photo from NHL.com)

On the Sharks podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 Former San Jose Shark, Toronto Marple Leaf, Pittsburgh Penguin Patrick Marleau announced his retirement after 23 seasons in the NHL. Marleau in a press conference at SAP Center on Tuesday said it was bittersweet but he has a lot to look forward to.

#2 Marleau also said that if you had told him as a kid skating on a frozen pond in Saskatchewan that he would break the games played record held by Gordy Howe he would have thought you were crazy.

#3 Len talk about his number 12 being retired by the Sharks in the future and having his jersey raised in the rafters at SAP Center for future fans to see.

#4 He has records set for the Sharks franchise records in goals, points, even strength goals, power play goals, shots, games played, also he played in 910 consecutive games from Apr 9, 2009 to May 12, 2001.

#5 Len after Marleau left the Sharks after playing in San Jose 1997-98 to 2016-17, he went to play in his native country Canada for the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2017-18 to 2018-19 before moving onto the Pittsburgh Penguins 2019-20 and then his final season with the Sharks 2020-21 to round out his career in hockey.

Join Len for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoff podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Marleau Passes Howe in Sharks SO Loss to Golden Knights 3-2

The San Jose Sharks Patrick Marleau acknowledges the crowd at the T Mobile Center in Las Vegas before the start of the game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Mon Apr 19, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks and the NHL celebrated Patrick Marleau’s 1768th game on Monday in Las Vegas. With that game, Marleau passed Gordie Howe and became the all-time leader for NHL games played. The Sharks wore a patch with a silhouette of Marleau against a background of the number 12. Martin Jones wore a mask specially designed for the occasion. After the first stoppage of play, the game was paused for some words from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to Marleau:

“You don’t get to play in one game, let alone 1,768 just because you’re a good guy or a positive role model and beloved by fans, though you are all of those things. To earn a precious spot in an NHL lineup, night after night, year after year, you have to earn it every single game.”

The Sharks lost to the Golden Knights Monday, by a score of 3-2 in the shootout. Mark Stone scored both regulation goals for Vegas and Alex Tuch scored the shootout winner. Robin Lehner made 29 saves for the win. Nikolai Knyzhov and Noah Gregor scored for San Jose and Martin Jones made 38 saves in the loss. The game extended the Golden Knights’ winning streak to seven and the Sharks’ losing streak to six.

Sharks defenseman Nikolai Knyzhov scored at 9:27 of the first. His shot from the point whistled through traffic and over Lehner’s blocker. It was Knyzhov’s second goal of the season.

The shot count for the first was 11-11. The Sharks took two penalties in the first and their p.k. gave up three shots. Tomas Hertl left the ice hastily during the period but returned to finish the game.

Noah Gregor made it 2-0 29 seconds into the second period. Gregor turned and fired from just above the face-off circle and the puck went through Lehner and over the line. That was Gregor’s fourth goal of the season.

Mark Stone cut the lead in half on a power play at 1:22 of the second. Stone tipped a shot from Shea Theodore, sending it into the top corner. Assists went to Theodore and Max Pacioretty.

Each team had one power play and one shot on the power play in the second period. The shot count was 14-7 for the Golden Knights.

Mark Stone tied the game with another power play goal at 3:25 of the third period. Stone brought the puck up from the goal line and lifted it over Jones’ pad. Assists went to Pacioretty and Theodore.

The shot total for the third period was 11-10 Sharks. The Sharks took two penalties and the Golden Knights one. Each power play had one shot in the period. The Sharks won 46% of their face-offs in the game.

The Sharks got credit for two shots in an almost non-stop overtime period. The Golden Knights had five overtime shots.

Patrick Marleau shot first for San Jose. Lehner made the save. Alex Tuch shot first for Vegas and scored. Ryan Donato shot second for San Jose and he was stopped too. Chandler Stephenson shot second for Vegas and missed. Logan Couture shot third for San Jose and he was stopped too.

The Sharks next play on Wednesday, again in Las Vegas against the Golden Knights at 6:30 PM PT.

Sharks Trounce Kings 5-2

The Los Angeles Kings left winger Austin Wagner (27) tries to skate around San Jose Sharks goaltender Martin Jones (31) behind the net at SAP Center in San Jose on Fri Apr 9, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks beat the Los Angeles Kings 5-2 Friday at the SAP Center in San Jose. Kevin Labanc, Patrick Marleau, Rudolfs Balcers, Dylan Gambrell and Tomas Hertl all scored for San Jose. Brent Burns had three assists and Martin Jones made 32 saves for the win. Alex Iafallo and Jaret Anderson-Dolan scored for Los Angeles and Calvin Petersen made 24 saves in the loss.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said:

“It was a good team win, it was a good team effort. They really came at us in the second period. We obviously didn’t like our second and I thought that, you know, they pushed hard and we didn’t really respond very well. But Jonesy was our best player tonight. And he’s in the zone, he’s seeing the puck and he made some big saves at the right time.”

Los Angeles scored first, at 2:27 of the first. Alex Iafallo, just arrived in front of the net, caught Dustin Brown’s quick pass from the boards and redirected it past Martin Jones. Assists went to Brown and Anze Kopitar.

The Sharks tied it up at 8:01. The Sharks had just finished killing a penalty, and won a defensive zone face-off. They broke out with Kevin Labanc carrying the puck. He carried it all the way down and took the shot. It went in. Assists went to Brent Burns and Mario Ferraro.

Patrick Marleau gave the Sharks the lead at 13:50 when Brent Burns sent the puck to the net and it went off of Marleau’s skate. Assists went to Burns and Marcus Sorensen.

Rudolfs Balcers made it 3-1 at 17:17, following Timo Meier on a breakaway. Petersen stopped the shot but Balcers was there to put the rebound away. Assists went to Meier and Erik Karlsson.

The Kings out-shot the Sharks in the first, 13-11. Each team had one power play. The Los Angeles power play had four shots on one power play and the Sharks power play had one in one.

In a scoreless second period, the Kings led again in shots, 11-8. They also led in penalties, taking two that resulted in a power play for San Jose. The Sharks took two shots in those two power plays. The Sharks had one penalty to kill and the Kings got one shot out of that. There were also two fights, which added a total of twelve penalty minutes on the score sheet. Jeffrey Viel fought Kurtis MacDermid and Marcus Sorensen fought Andreas Athanasiou. Sorensen and Athanasiou fought again at the final buzzer.

The Kings came to within one goal 1:02 into the third period, moments after a Sharks penalty expired. Jaret Anderson-Dolan scored, unassisted, by throwing the puck at the net from a sharp angle. The puck went from below the goal line, behind Jones’ near skate, off of his far skate and in.

Dylan Gambrell scored a short-handed goal at 17:00. Gambrell and Evander Kane broke away for a two-on-none. Gambrell passed first, then Kane passed it back, forcing Petersen to move in the crease. Gambrell took the shot. Assists went to Kane and Burns.

Tomas Hertl made it 5-2, shooting it down the ice into and empty net at 18:41. Assists went to Kane and Logan Couture.

The Kings won 58% of the face-offs through the game. The final shot count was 34-29 Kings.

The Sharks will play the Kings again on Saturday in San Jose at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Shut Out 4-0 by Coyotes

Arizona Coyotes right winger Phil Kessel scored a hat trick in the third period and goes for the victory skate in front of the Arizona bench on Sat Mar 27, 2021 at Gila River Arena in Glendale (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The Arizona Coyotes beat the San Jose Sharks 4-0 Saturday, thanks to a hat trick from Phil Kessel, a goal from Clayton Keller and a 34 save shut-out from Adin Hill. Devan Dubnyk made 23 saves for San Jose. The game was Patrick Marleau’s 1,756th, tying him with Mark Messier for second all-time in NHL games played.

Curtis Gabriel took a five minute major at 7:02 of the third period, with an open ice hit that was called for interference. He was also given a game misconduct. That was his third penalty of the game, and the Sharks’ second penalty of the period. In addition to those, the Sharks started the period killing most of a late second-period penalty . They killed off all of those and two more penalties in the third.

After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said that the game really hinged on those third period penalties:

“We held them to 13 shots after two periods, albeit we were down 2-0. I think that, you know, defensively we had a couple breakdowns and they had a bunch as well. We couldn’t capitalize on ours. But then, you spend the whole third period killing, it’s very tough obviously to catch up.”

The first period was scoreless. The Sharks had one power play and managed 6 shots with the man advantage. Overall, the Sharks outshot the Coyotes 17-9.

The Sharks out-shot the Coyotes in the second period as well, 9-5, but gave up two goals. The first came at 5:49 after Clayton Keller jumped on a neutral zone turnover. He skated to the other end and had a clear lane to shoot at Dubnyk.

Phil Kessell scored his first of the game on the power play at 14:16. He caught Oliver Ekman-Larssen’s pass at the point and then skated in, taking a shot from just above the face-off circle. Christian Fischer was right in front of Dubnyk creating an excellent screen. Assists went to Ekman-Larssen and Keller.

The Coyotes had two power plays in the second period, but got credit for just one shot in those power plays.

Phil Kessel’s second goal of the game came just as the third Sharks penalty expired. Kessel caught a rebound and then pushed it past Dubnyk’s leg. Assists went to Christian Dvorak and Alex Goligoski.

The Sharks used a coach’s challenge on the goal, arguing that Kessel pushed Dubnyk’s leg out of the way with his stick before pushing the puck in. The NHL did not see it that way and allowed the goal. That unsuccessful challenge triggered the Sharks’ fourth penalty of the period.

After the game, Dubnyk talked about that call:

“I was told that that was Phil Kessel’s follow-through, continued motion of a follow through. Which, you guys watched the play, I watched the play a bunch on the jumbotron. If you’re going to sit here and honestly tell me that’s the guy’s follow-through, that’s tough. And if he would have shoved my pad into the net with the puck underneath it, would it have counted? If the answer is no then the answer is that shouldn’t have counted either.”

Kessell’s third goal came at 17:28 into an empty net. He got that puck after a failed neutral zone pass from Erik Karlsson. Assists went to Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz.

The Coyotes out-shot the Sharks in the third, 13-8. The Sharks won 53% of the face-offs in the game, and took a total of 29 penalty minutes to the Coyotes’ 6.

The Sharks next play Monday against the Minnesota Wild in San Jose at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Lose 5-2 to Coyotes

Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks lost 5-2 to the Coyotes in Arizona Friday. Coyotes goals came from Nick Schmaltz, Christian Dvorak (2), Dryden Hunt and Phil Kessel. Their goaltender, Aiden Hill, made 20 saves for the win. Tomas Hertl and Patrick Marleau scored for San Jose and Martin Jones made 23 saves in the loss. Patrick Marleau scored his 564th goal, tying him for 23rd all-time in NHL goal scoring. Friday’s game was also Phil Kessel’s 1100th NHL appearance.

The Sharks made a poor showing in the first period, registering just four shots on goal. Their second period showed some hope, starting with an early short-handed goal from Tomas Hertl, but then came unraveled in the third. After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said:

“I didn’t like our compete in the offensive zone, I didn’t like our compete all over the ice to be honest with you. I didn’t think it was good enough for a game like this. I thought that we weren’t physical enough, we didn’t stop them, we didn’t stop their feet enough.”

The first period saw just one goal scored, from Christian Dvorak at 6:20. Christian Fischer passed the puck behind the net to Conor Garland, who sent it up front for Dvorak. Assists went to Conor Garland and Christian Fischer.

The Coyotes outshot the Sharks 12-4 in a penalty-free first period.

Tomas Hertl’s short-handed goal came at the end of the Sharks’ first penalty of the second period. Hertl broke away with Evander Kane backing him up. He made a beeline for the net and no one got in his way. The assist went to Erik Karlsson.

The Coyotes took the lead back at the end of the period with a goal from Nick Schmaltz. Ilya Lyubushkin sent the puck to the net from the point and Schmaltz was able to tip it in as he arrived in front of the net. Assists went to Lyubushkin and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

The teams were dead even in shots during the second period, with 10 each. The Coyotes had two power plays, but the Sharks penalty kill allowed just one shot.

Christian Dvorak scored the Coyotes’ third goal of the night, at 7:48 of the third. Dvorak intercepted a pass from Brent Burns and no one could catch him as he made his way to the net.

Dryden Hunt made it 4-1 at 9:08. Hunt took advantage of a rebound off a Lawson Crouse shot. Assists went to Crouse and Derick Brassard. Boughner challenged the goal for goaltender interference. Crouse’s stick did touch Jones’ leg as he skated by and it may have caused Jones to spin the wrong way. In any case, the goal was allowed and that put the Sharks on the penalty kill.

Phil Kessel made it 5-1 at 9:59, during the ensuing power play. Clayton Keller’s pass from near the goal line found Kessel in the slot. Assists went to Keller and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

Patrick Marleau scored on the power play at 12:30. Coyotes goalie Aiden Hill had gone behind the net to gather up the puck but he lost it. He was still trying to get back into the net when Marleau snatched the puck up and put it over the line. Assists went to Mario Ferraro and Timo Meier.

Each team took two penalties in the third period. The Sharks got one shot in their power plays and scored on that one. The Coyotes got two shots on their power plays and scored with one. The Sharks held a small lead in third period shots, 8-6. The Sharks won 52% of the face-offs in the game.

Radim Simek was pushed into the boards midway through the third period. He was able to skate back to the bench but he went to the locker room after that. The hit was penalized as boarding. There was no update after the game.

The Sharks next play on Saturday against the Coyotes in Arizona, at 7:00 PM PT.

Sharks Beat Blues 5-4

Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks beat the Blues 5-4 in St.Louis on Saturday. Sharks goals came from Evander Kane, Logan Couture (2), Rudolfs Balcers, and Patrick Marleau. Sharks goaltender Devan Dubnyk made 28 saves for the win. The Blues goals were scored by Brayden Schenn, Zach Sanford, Ryan O’Reilly and Jordan Kyrou. Jordan Binnington made 22 saves in the loss.

Despite allowing another four-goal second period to the Blues, the Sharks persisted for the win. After the game, Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner talked about coping with penalties and questionable calls: “We stuck with it and we had some great kills, character kills, and we found a way to get three points out of these two games. It could have easily been four.”

Evander Kane ended a four-game goal drought at 7:24 of the first, giving the Sharks the first lead of the game. Logan Couture tried to move the puck from the boards to Kane but it went to Zach Sanford instead. Sanford turned it right over to Kane, with some help from Kevin Labanc. Kane was ready to spin, settle the puck and shoot before Binnington could get set.

Couture doubled the lead at 10:10. Kane chased the puck down behind the net and sent it up ice to Kevin Labanc, who found Couture in front of the net with a quick pass. Couture tapped it right in.

The first period ended with the Sharks leading in shots 10-9, and in the face-off circle at 54%. The Sharks took one penalty in the first, and the Blues had one shot on that power-play.

The second period was much busier than the first. The Sharks added to their tally at 3:48. Rudolfs Balcers scored his first as a Shark by stopping above the blue paint and waiting for a pass from Tomas Hertl, who was below the goal line. Despite the Blues defense around him, Hertl got the pass cleanly to Balcers for a one-timer past Binnington.

The Blues scored at 4:45. Jordan Kyrou, with Marc-Edouard Vlasic blocking his path, bounced the puck off of the post from below the goal line. It went right to Brayden Schenn for a shot past Devan Dubnyk on the blocker side. Assists went to Jordan Kyrou and Mike Hoffman.

Patrick Marleau gave the Sharks a three-goal lead at 8:18. Evander Kane sent the puck under a leaping Matt Nieto to Marleau on the far side of the net. Marleau tapped it in behind Binnington.

The Blues came right back with their second goal at 8:37. Torey Krug took a shot from the Blue line that went off of Zach Sanford. The goal was reviewed for a high stick but was allowed. Assists went to Krug and Schenn.

Ryan O’Reilly’s one-timer from just above the goal line cut the Sharks lead to one at 15:30. The Sharks were short-handed as Mario Ferraro left the ice abruptly after losing his helmet. Assists went to Hoffman and Kyrou.

Kyrou tied it up ith just 1:19 left in the second. Kyrou skated in, two-on-one with David Perron. Perron drew the defensive attention so Kyrou took the shot and beat Dubnyk on the glove side. Assists went to Perron and O’Reilly.

The Blues led on the second-period shot clock, 15-10, and in the face-off circle, at 54%. As in the first, the Sharks took one penalty but the Blues didn’t get any shots out of it.

Couture, just on the ice after a line change, gave the Sharks a new lead at 11:51 of the third. His shot from the face-off circle slipped through traffic at the net before Binnington could find it.

The Blues pulled their goaltender with just over a minute left but the Sharks held on. The Blues took their first penalty in the third period, but it was offset by a penalty to the Sharks as well, for some four-on-four play. The Sharks took a second penalty in the third, but their penalty kill did not allow any shots. The final shot count was 32-27 Blues, and the face-offs went to the Blues 52% of the time.

The Sharks next play on Monday, back in San Jose, against the Minnesota Wild at 7:30 PM PT.

Sharks Beat Kings 4-3 in Shootout

The San Jose Sharks Evander Kane (9) celebrates with teammates after scoring a third period goal as the Los Angeles Kings could only look away Mon Feb 9, 2021 at Staples Center in Los Angeles (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks won 4-3 against the Los Angeles Kings at Staple Center Tuesday. It was their fifth shootout of the season and their third in a row. Sharks goals came from Logan Couture, Timo Meier and Evander Kane, with Couture also scoring the shootout winner. Martin Jones made 24 saves for the win. Kings goals came from Dustin Brown (2) and Anze Kopitar, while Calvin Petersen made 37 saves in the loss. Patrick Marleau passed Jaromir Jagr in Tuesday’s game, on the NHL’s all-time games played list. His 1,734 games are good for third, just behind Mark Messier.

Sharks captain Logan Couture had an outstanding game with a goal, an assist and six shots on goal before the shootout. Only Brent Burns had more shots with seven. After the game, Sharks goalie Martin Jones said: “He just brings it every night. He’s got kind of a workmanlike attitude and, you know, he comes and he brings it every night and that’s something that, you know, I definitely respect about him.”

The Sharks started the scoring early, just 1:20 in. Radim Simek put the puck off to the right of the net and Ryan Donato caught up to it just in time to send a pass backwards to where Timo Meier was arriving at the net. Goalie Calvin Petersen was following the puck to the left and Meier moved it back to the right and into an open net. Assists went to Donato and Simek.

The Sharks’ second goal came in the final minutes of the first. Knyzhov put the puck on Patrick Marleau’s stick by the net and he passed it across the crease to Logan Couture. Petersen could not get back across in time and Couture scored his sixth of the season. Assists went ot Marleau and Knyzhov.

The Sharks took one penalty mid-period but allowed no shots. Instead, Marcus Sorensen got credit for a short-handed effort. The Sharks led the first period in shots 12-4, and the teams were even in face-off wins.

The Sharks started the second period on a power play that carried over from the first period. They got two shots in on that power play but then took three penalties over the course of the period. Timo Meier went for hi-sticking, Mat Nieto went for hooking and Ryan Donato sat for a too many men penalty. Those penalties gave the Kings six shots and a goal.

Seven minutes into the second, Anze Kopitar got a breakaway, skating most of the length of the ice to beat Martin Jones one-on-one. Assists went to Alex Iafallo and Dustin Brown.

Dustin Brown tied the game with a power play goal at 17:54. Adrian Kempe took a shot from the blue line that hit Jones’ glove and dropped to the ice. Before Jones could cover it, Brown lifted it over the goalie’s glove and into the net. Assists went to Kempe and Drew Doughty.

The Kings led in shots during the second period 12-9, and in face-off wins at 53%.

Brown scored his second of the game to give the Kings a lead at 10:45 of the third period. Iafallo fought his way down the ice and around behind the Sharks net and made a quick pass up to Brown just as he came through the face-off circle. His quick shot squeezed between Jones and the post.

Evander Kane tied the game back up at 19:15. With the net empty, Couture took a shot from high in the slot. As the puck bounced around in the blue paint, Kane pushed it over the line through sticks and bodies. Assists went to Couture and Brent Burns.

The shots were 11-10 Sharks in the third. The Sharks won just 44% of their third period face-offs, but in the brief over-time session, they won 80%.

Despite outshooting the Kings 8-1 in overtime, the Sharks could not end it without another shootout. Jones was perfect in the shootout, allowing Logan Couture’s goal to win it for San Jose.

The Sharks will play the Kings in Los Angeles again on Thursday at 7:00 PM PT.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh: Patty Marleau is back in San Jose this time as a Penguin tonight

sfchronicle.com photo: Pittsburgh Penguin Patrick Marleau is returning to San Jose tonight who played 19 seasons in San Jose will return to grind it out against his former team at SAP Center

On the Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 The Pittsburgh Penguins Patrick Marleau just can’t stay away from San Jose, his home is in San Jose and he played in San Jose 19 seasons in San Jose and he returns to SAP Center tonight

#2 Marleau hasn’t been away from the Sharks too long but he will get a warm ovation when he is introduced in tonight’s starting line ups

#3 The question is will Marleau return to San Jose again? He was traded in 2017 to Toronto and returned last season

#4 The Sharks Joe Thornton would like to finish up his career with San Jose he was on the trade block but survived getting traded around the time Marleau was shipped to the Penguins

#5 The Sharks (27-33-4) and the Penguins (37-19-6) go at it tonight Mary Lisa sets the scenario for us

Mary Lisa does the San Jose Sharks podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Trade Marleau, Goodrow at the Deadline

popsugar.com file photo: Former San Jose Shark Patrick Marleau (12) who was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday will have a shot at playing the post season

By Mary Walsh

For the first time in many years, the San Jose Sharks are not expected to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That situation became clear early enough in the season for them to be sellers at the trade deadline. Both Patrick Marleau and Barclay Goodrow were traded today, following Brenden Dillon to playoff-bound teams in the Eastern Conference.

Patrick Marleau was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins and Barclay Goodrow went to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Dillon was traded last week to the Washington Capitals. The Sharks also acquired defenseman Brandon Davidson from the Calgary Flames today.

The Sharks received a conditional 2021 third round draft pick from Pittsburgh, which would become a second round pick if the Penguins win the Cup in 2020. The Penguins are currently ranked second in the Metropolitan division, just 2 points out of first behind the Capitals. Patrick Marleau was on a one-year contract with the Sharks, so he will be a free agent again this summer.

From a Sharks press release:

“Patrick is one of the most iconic players ever to wear the Sharks uniform,” said Wilson. “Although we have had a disappointing season in San Jose, he deserves every opportunity to have a chance at winning a Stanley Cup, and we’re happy to accommodate that. We wish him the best of luck.”

Barclay Goodrow has another year on his very cap-friendly contract. In exchange for Goodrow, the Sharks got Tampa Bay’s first round pick and a third round pick (originally Philadelphia’s) in the 2020 draft as well as forward Anthony Greco. Tampa Bay is also second in their division, the Atlantic, five points out of first but boasting a +50 goal differential.

From the Sharks press release:

“Barclay has been an extremely valuable, team-first payer to our organization for the past six seasons,” said Wilson. “His story of perseverance and hard work from being an undrafted free agent to being one of the most versatile players in the National Hockey League has been a pleasure to watch. You hate to lose players like this, but this is an important step in acquiring valuable assets that can be utilized by our club moving forward.”

Anthony Greco was playing with Tampa Bay’s AHL team, after being recently acquired by Tampa Bay from the Florida Panthers.

The Sharks acquired defenseman Brandon Davidson from the Calgary Flames for future consideration. Davidson, 28, has played seven games this season with the Calgary Flames and played 34 games with the AHL’s Stockton Heat. During his career, he earned 23 points in 169 NHL games with the Flames, the Oilers, the Canadiens, the Islanders and the Blackhawks.

Despite many rumors, Joe Thornton was not traded to either the Dallas Stars or the Boston Bruins. He will finish the season in teal.