Marleau Glad to Stay in San Jose

Aneroid's Patrick Marleau is very pleased to be staying with the only NHL home he has ever known.

He signed a three-year contract extension with the San Jose Sharks last week.

"Just very exciting," Marleau told the Sharks' official website. "Obviously to be in one spot for a long time and put some roots down with family and friends now... to know I'm going to be here for another three years is great."

This is Marleau's 16th NHL season and he's playing as well as ever with 48 points in 53 games.

"For me I just focused on the playing part," Marleau said. "I knew everything would kind of fall into place after that."

It was no co-incidence he signed his contract the same day that San Jose Captain Joe Thornton also signed a three-year extension. The two have become a dynamic duo in San Jose since Thornton came to the Sharks from Boson in 2005.

"We came into the league together," Marleau said. "We were able to find ourselves on the same team... there's a long history. Him being on the team and me being on the team kind of go hand-in-hand with our contracts. If he had wanted to go somewhere else it might have been tougher for me to come back."

Both Marleau and Thornton would have been free agents at the end of the season.

"These are two elite players that have played extremely well this year," said San Jose GM Doug Wilson. "I really like their contribution not just as players but how they've helped our team grow and be prepared for the challenges ahead of us."

The deals came in likely under market value as Thornton got $6.75 million per season, while Marleau will earn an average of $6.67 million.

"I can not compliment these players enough," Wilson said. "We really appreciate what they've done here with these contracts and they've done it several times. We as an organization try to make this a place where players want to play, but players have choices."

"We really appreciate them helping us keep this group together. They both did step up and it says a lot about both of them as people and teammates."

Marleau is 34 and has already played 1,217 career regular season games and has a franchise record 909 points.

"Really happy for them," said Sharks Coach and former Swift Current Broncos Coach Todd McLellan. "Really happy for our organization and for our city. They've been great ambassadors for many years... on the ice in the way they carry themselves, but also in the community."

Marleau is a former Swift Current Home Hardware Legionnaire who played minor hockey in this area before heading to Seattle for his WHL career.

He will play for Canada at the upcoming winter Olympics.