Over the last few months, whenever the topic of Patrick Marleau’s unrestricted free agency came up, the conversation centered on whether the Sharks should bring him back or replace him with another elite-caliber forward, such as Ilya Kovalchuk, Matt Duchene or Claude Giroux.
No one expected Mr. Shark to skip town without a viable backup plan in place.
But that’s exactly what happened: Marleau signed a three-year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs Sunday and now the Sharks have a glaring hole in their top-six forward group.
How is a team that finished 19th in scoring last season going to generate more offense without their third-highest goal scorer?