Locked On Sharks
Marleau’s Hall of Fame Case?

Kyle and JD react to the news of Patrick Marleau’s hockey-related news conference today. We discuss if Marleau could potentially be joining the San Jose Sharks front office and his pending retirement from hockey, along with where Marleau ranks in Sharks history (10:00). We finish by debating the merits of Patrick Marleau’s Hall of Fame case (14:00) and who gets their jersey retired first by the San Jose Sharks, Patrick Marleau or Joe Thornton (27:00).
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Marleau gets in. But as you guys detail, its not a slam dunk. Nor should it be. Agree, he gets in when a class has a hole in it. Marleau’s +/- is a meaningful negative (new school hates the stat, but the selection committee is old school), in part, because it compares unfavorably to Pavs, Jumbo and Vlasic. Can make the argument Pavs was a better player for the Sharks — its just that Pavs started later. One thing working against him, the overall goal scoring numbers are a lot higher now than they were during most of Marleau’s career… Read more »
Also worth noting, HOF looks at all of hockey, so Marleau’s 2 Olympic gold medals play a role.
where’s his individual hardware? the same reason to argue for (those being team achievements and shouldn’t hold a player back from consideration) is really all that he has to his name. he was never the best player at his position. i feel bad for him because i think he is representative of the consummate professional athlete who was able to sustain a high level of play over a long/durable career. i just don’t know if that’s worthy of inclusion among the elite. it’s the same reason i hesitate to be on board with his being the first Sharks retired jersey… Read more »
You don’t really need individual hardware to get into the Hall though. Anyway, Marleau isn’t a top-100 NHL player, but the Hall has close to 300 players now, I think? Is he say top-250? I say probably. I’m not banging the drum for him, but he’s a fine addition
was he even the best player on his own team at any point?
Was Carbonneau? Lowe? Zubov? Andreychuk? Recchi? Even Hossa? Just looking at some recent inductees
Agreed. The sooner the better, as 4:4 OT and two-line rule have changed the game enough to stimulate more scoring. Patty played the first several years of his career in clutch-and-grab hockey.
Hall of Very Good, yes.