Patrick Marleau Autograph Card

Well, another season is upon us, and as always the San Jose Sharks seem like they're in complete turmoil. Both disgraced former captains (Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton) are back, as is GM Doug Wilson despite his calling Thornton out and his star center's reply to "shut his mouth".

Tomas Hertl has to rebound from his sophomore slump, head coach Todd McLellan has moved on to coach the Edmonton Oilers after winning gold at the World Cup with Team Canada, and choke-master extraordinaire Peter DeBoer has replaced him behind the bench.

"Peter is a well-respected leader who possesses all of the characteristics we were looking for in our next head coach," general manager Wilson said in a team statement. "He's an extremely intelligent and innovative individual who likes to play an aggressive system. Peter has a track record of extracting the most out of his players and is willing to make tough decisions that are based on achieving team success. We're extremely excited to have him leading our group."

Yes, he's exactly what the Sharks need: a coach who has never won the Stanley Cup and isn't afraid to make unpopular decisions, such as McLellan's stripping Thornton of his captaincy and yet not replacing him, then strapping an "A" to his chest as part of a "leadership group". Tough decisions. Stupid, but tough. And yet, he wasn't able to tell Martin Brodeur to stay on the bench when he clearly became a liability that ultimately cost him his job with the New Jersey Devils. So how come he didn't make THE tough decision?

That's why it seems to me like more of the same for the Sharks: a finish outside the playoff picture, having handed the goaltending duties to Los Angeles Kings backup Martin Jones with Alex Stalock (who couldn't wrestle the #1 gig away from Antti Niemi) as the fall-back plan.

Also - and maybe that stems from my being from Montréal - but when the banners on the ceiling of your arena are just for winning division titles, you've never achieved anything. Only Cup banners are worth hanging in the rafters, and yet:

"There is a tradition here of winning and a challenge to go deep into the playoffs," said DeBoer. "That is my expectation and that is Doug's expectation as well."

Uh huh. Riiiiight.

And all respect due to Marleau, he'll be caught in the crossfire, no longer the star player he once was, therefore unable to carry the team on his shoulders, but too good to be cast aside for an unproven rookie if DeBoer truly wants to win, with an unmovable contract to boot.

He's currently at 988 career points (in 1329 games), so he'll at least get to pass the millennium mark within the first couple of months of play, maybe even in October if he continues his career trend of strong early starts, but his 57 total points last year are a clear sign of his overall decline.

Here he is back when he wore #14 (he now sports #12), from In The Game's 1998-99 Be A Player set, card #120 of the signed insert sub-set (the gold variant), handling the puck and looking at it, so probably in the neutral zone:

He's pictured with the Sharks' teal (then-away) uniform, one that I never understood why it got so much love; I'm a far bigger fan of the garbs they wore from 2007 until 2013, save for the jersey numbers on the front, which are an aberration and a crime against hockey tradition (and good taste, and fashion).

Patrick Marleau Jersey Card

It seems the San Jose Sharks have begun their annual free fall earlier than usual; indeed, instead of waiting until the playoffs, they seem to have decided to crash and burn ahead of the trade deadline this year, perhaps because some of the players feel they might need a fresh start... elsewhere.

One of the two key pieces of what used to be called the team's leadership group, Patrick Marleau has been at the center of many a trade rumour in the past decade or so, as has been Joe Thornton. As a matter of fact, both former star players share another common trait: they are still playing for a team that has removed them from the captaincy, Marleau having been tossed aside for Thornton, and Jumbo Joe not currently being replaced this season... though he remains one of four skaters with an 'A' on his jersey.

Everything about the Sharks spells ''improvisation'' and ''lack of a definite plan'' after last postseason's meltdown, where they led their series against the Los Angeles Kings three games to none but ended up losing the series, becoming just the fourth team to surrender a 3-0 lead in the playoffs in NHL history; the team then swore they were rebuilding, promised they weren't, changed their leadership group (though they didn't), and spent the whole season so far with the same GM, same coach, same starting goalie, and same line-up, though they did trade Jason Demers for Brenden Dillon... which seemed to be the point where the players just lost any semblance of consistency and, dare I say, desire to play.

No Sharks player is currently on a point-per-game pace (though Joe Pavelski comes closest), and Marleau himself trails even defenseman Brent Burns. Things have been brighter for the former captain on the international stage, as he was a reserve member of Team Canada's 2004 World Cup team, and was on its 2010 and 2014 gold medal-winning Olympic teams, and won gold (2003) and silver (2005) at the World Championships. He is a rare case of a player never suiting up for Canada at the World Juniors to do so on the mens' teams.

Here he is wearing the Sharks' former white uniform dating from his captaincy days, in card #AF-PM of Upper Deck's 2005-06 SP Game-Used Edition collection (part of the Authentic Fabrics sub-set), featuring a black piece of game-worn jersey: