Rumor: The San Jose Sharks want nothing to do with Patrick Marleau.

Sharks are done with Marleau.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Rumor: The San Jose Sharks want nothing to do with Patrick Marleau.
Daniel Lea/CSM/Zuma

Sometimes plans just do not work out the way you had hoped.

Earlier this summer the Toronto Maple Leafs orchestrated a trade that sent veteran forward Patrick Marleau to the Carolina Hurricanes along with a first round draft selection and a seventh round selection. It was a lot for the Maple Leafs to give up and in return all they received was a sixth round pick in compensation, a move that was clearly designed to move Marleau's contract off their books. Now it was obvious that the Leafs needed the cap relief but you would be hard pressed to argue that Marleau himself did not play a huge role in this trade being made. Long before the trade had been consummated there were reports that Marleau's family was returning to California and furthermore that it was his desire to join his family there and potentially make his return to the Sharks, the team where he played for the majority of his National Hockey League career. 

This left Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas with very little leverage in negotiations and eventually the costly trade was made. The Hurricanes intended to offer Marleau a chance to play for their organization but it became clear that he had no desire to do so, leading the Hurricanes to buy out the final year of a deal that saw him earning an average annual value of $6.25 million. The move effectively made Patrick Marleau an unrestricted free agent, free to sign with any team in the NHL except the Hurricanes of course who had just bought him out of his contract. This of course opened up a clear path for Marleau to return to the Sharks, something everyone now believes he wanted, but not so fast. 

According to a report from Toronto based reported Steve Simmons it now appears that the San Jose Sharks want nothing to do with their former player. Now to be fair here Simmons does have a reputation for not always having the most accurate of reports so for that reason we will be classifying this as a rumor for now. That being said Simmons choice of words suggest he is adamant that the Sharks do not intend to bring back Marleau.

From Simmons:

After being traded by the Leafs and bought out by Carolina, Patrick Marleau figured he would go home and return to the San Jose Sharks. Well, that’s not happening. Sharks don’t want him. 

If Marleau truly wants to play for the Sharks exclusively this could mean the end of his amazing NHL career, one that spanned a staggering 1657 games. However Simmons also indicated that the Arizona Coyotes would like to bring Marleau in for this season, so there are still doors open for him if he chooses to take the opportunities. 

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