|
Marleau News is Hardly News to Marleau |
|
|
|
|
|
With word coming down that Patrick Marleau has formally been stripped of his captaincy, the rumors about his departure from San Jose are sure to heat up. And that means more Habs rumors, as Montreal remains an obvious candidate to acquire his services. The only problem is that a lot of people are assuming this move was some sudden shock to Marleau, as if his leadership wasn’t muted the day Joe Thornton arrived from the Boston Bruins. Yesterday’s news came after a summer’s worth of anticipation that Marleau would have his captaincy stripped, and he would be traded thereafter, but the former event was a long-time coming, and the latter has been expected for well over a year.
Did yesterday’s news have any effect on Marleau’s desire to remain with, or leave San Jose? Though Marleau has a no-trade clause in his contract, one would have to assume he has no interest in returning to a team where most the blame has been heaped on his shoulders for tremendous regular seasons followed by tremendous flops in the post-season. Yesterday’s announcement only publicly compounded what was already known to be a stale relationship between Patrick Marleau and the San Jose Sharks.
It seems silly to discuss Marleau’s feelings before considering whether or not Doug Wilson has already decided to trade his former captain before the season starts. What would be the benefit in hanging on to him at this point? How long will it be before Marleau forces Wilson’s hand, if San Jose’s Gm hasn’t already made that decision? What will his value be on the market, given his NTC, his salary, and the obvious disappointment both parties have in each other?
From Montreal’s perspective, the addition of Marleau offers them a 1-2 punch up the middle they clearly don’t have with Tomas Plekanec. And you’d be hard-pressed to find another team in the NHL who would benefit as much from making this change as the Canadiens would. But it always comes back to the money; dollars and cents the Canadiens and Sharks don’t have. And then the question revolves around San Jose freeing up Marleau’s salary in order to add a component like Dany Heatley to the fold, because what Montreal has to offer (as they can’t take on Marleau’s salary without clearing the same amount from their cap) can’t be considered an upgrade on Marleau.
The reality is that Patrick Marleau will be traded before the beginning of the regular season, probably before the beginning of training camp (or at least Doug Wilson will try his hardest to make that happen). Without a third team involved, it’s highly unlikely Montreal will be able to make this deal.
So, who else has interest? Who can afford to make this deal, and has the incentive to, without having to shed a lot of salary to make it happen; enabling San Jose to bring something better in from somewhere else? This problem should have a solution sooner than later, for the benefit of both Marleau and the Sharks, but moving him out of San Jose is clearly very difficult to do, and that might be the only reason he’s still a member of the team. As for yesterday’s news; I’m sure Marleau was as surprised as the rest of us…meaning, not at all!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»