SAN JOSE — The verdict is in: Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau both want to re-sign with the Sharks in the offseason.
The question now is whether the organization wants to bring back the two cornerstones of the franchise and how to make the numbers work under the salary cap.
With Thornton and Marleau entering unrestricted free agency on July 1, the Sharks are facing their biggest offseason in years. In addition to determining the veteran forwards’ futures with the organization, general manager Doug Wilson will need make decisions regarding the expansion draft, the team’s four restricted free agents and how to extend the contracts of defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic and goalie Martin Jones, who are both scheduled to become unrestricted free agents in the summer of 2018.