Marleau or Mar-Low?

The preseason is underway, and the time is ripe to look ahead to the 2008-2009 edition of the San Jose Sharks.

Fans of Team Teal will be all too familiar with the storyline heading into this campaign...despite being one of the league's top teams for most of the 00's (and in the post-lockout years in particular), the Sharks have consistently wilted where it matters--in the playoffs. Early playoff exits have become an annual event of gloomy regularity for Sharks fans, rolling around to ruin those great regular seasons the way the first day of school inevitably shows up and ruins summer for small children.

The organization's management gave the team a good shake in the offseason in an effort to produce a different ending this year. San Jose's defensive corps will look very different this season, and of course there's a new man in charge behind the bench. But I can't help thinking that the key to a reversal of fortune lies with a guy who's been on the roster for years--the man wearing the "C", #12, Patrick Marleau.

Let's not mince words: Marleau had a horrible year last year. After a career-high 34 goals and 52 assists in 05-06, and an only slightly less productive 06-07, Marleau skidded down to 19 goals and 29 assists last year, for a mere 48 points, and was -19 on a team that was generally good defensively. And this was with a relatively strong finish: nine of those 19 goals came after the trading deadline.

Not every captain has to be a pugnacious, fiery scrapper like Bob Errey or Jeff Odgers. A guy can have a low-key on-ice personality and still be an effective captain. But to do so, he has to let his production do the talking. Marleau simply has to increase his production this year...particularly because he has retained the "C".

I'm betting this must've been a tough decision for new head coach Todd McLellan. If it were his decision to make--if Craig Rivet (traded to Buffalo) had been last year's captain, for instance, and there were no incumbent--it is difficult for this particular fan to believe that Marleau would get the "C". But it would clearly be very difficult to take the "C" away from any player who wears it, especially Marleau, who appears to be burdened by at least some amount of psychological fragility. (Did the fact that he was widely blamed for allowing Robert Lang to score the series-turning goal in the 2007 playoffs contribute to his poor start last year? Is it a coincidence that his best stretch of the 07-08 season came after the trading deadline, when all of the rumors that swirled around him could finally be put to rest?)

Marleau strikes me as a brilliant but difficult player who must be handled with great care and precision at all times--kind of like a Formula 1 car. Make a mistake and he can stall out or fly off the road. It was widely reported that Marleau had a relationship with former coach Ron Wilson that ranged from merely cordial to downright poor. Maybe coach McLellan can solve the Marleau Enigma, and ensure that this essential element of the team contributes to his full potential.