Sharks’ Patrick Marleau headed to Penguins for a draft pick
The Pittsburgh Penguins have added a notable veteran forward, as Patrick Marleau is on his way from San Jose.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are never ones to rest on their laurels at the trade deadline, and the earlier acquisition of winger Jason Zucker from the Minnesota Wild for a first-round pick and a well-regarded prospect proved it again this year. Now, according to Bob McKenzie of TSN they will acquire center Patrick Marleau from the San Jose Sharks for a third-round pick.
Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic has added the draft pick will become a second-round pick if the Penguins win the Stanley Cup.
Marleau has 20 points (10 goals and 10 assists) in 58 games back with the Sharks this season, after a two-year stopover with the Toronto Maple Leafs and a trade to the Carolina Hurricanes last offseason that led to a buyout. He’s no longer playing 20 minutes a night as a top-line center like he did during his prime with San Jose, but the 40-year-old can absolutely fit in for Pittsburgh as the fourth-line pivot.
Marleau adds 191 games of playoff experience to a Penguins’ roster that’s already obviously loaded with it. He has also been very durable, playing every game in the last 10 straight full seasons and not missing a game due to injury in over a decade now.
Marleau could not block a trade, as he was not given any no-trade rights in his contract to come back to San Jose. But it’s safe to assume the Sharks gave him a lot of input in where he went if they were going to trade him, if only as an acknowledgment of his lengthy tenure with the franchise. He has never won a Stanley Cup, and the opportunity to do so in Pittsburgh is there this year as a potential cap to what will be a Hall of Fame career.
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