Patrick Marleau officially announces his retirement in touching article for The Players' Tribune

The NHL's all-time games played leader has officially called it a day.

After 1,779 career regular season games and 195 post-season games Patrick Marleau has retired from the NHL. 

The 42 year old San Jose Sharks legend made it official with a touching article penned for The Players' Tribute earlier today:

Marleau last laced up the skates in 2021 for the Sharks, skating in 56 games and putting up four goals and nine points. He officially passed Gordie Howe as the league's all-time games played leader last season and surpassed Mr. Hockey by just a dozen games. The only person close to him on the active players list is longtime teammate Joe Thornton at 1,714 games. 

A few snippets from Marleau's article for The Players' Tribune:

I was three years old when my dad, Denis, took me to skate at the local rink in Aneroid for the first time. He said I got halfway around the rink, turned around and headed back to him, handing him the chair he’d given me for balance. “I don’t want this,” was all I said, and then I turned and went back out on the ice.  

I fell in love with being out there at a young age. Hockey has always brought me a happiness I can’t put into words. It’s the smell of the rink, the laughs with my teammates, the competition, the thrill of victory, and yes, even the sorrow of defeat that fuels the fire to go out and try again. I was lucky to find my passion when I did, from that very first lap. 

When I was just 14, my parents allowed me to move to Swift Current with my grandma.  The hockey was better there, so after Mom had told me to stay out of trouble or I would be coming back home, I packed my bags, my favorite VHS Lemieux tape and left.  As thankful as I was then, being a parent now, I am even more thankful. I didn’t realize how hard and heartbreaking it must have been for them to let me go so young.

I couldn’t have told you much about San Jose before the summer of ’97. I knew it was in California, but that’s a big state. Was it by the beach? A desert city? All I knew was that there was a newish team there that wanted me, and I needed to bring it. I showed up about a month before camp, checked into a hotel and got to work. About a month or so into my rookie season, I was finally told I could get a place to live. Kelly Hrudey, who was playing there at the time, had gone into Dean’s office and said he and his wife, Donna, had a guest house that they wanted me to stay in. My parents were thankful, the team was more than okay with it, and I was excited to not have to go home to an empty apartment each day. Kelly and I would eat after games together in his kitchen and stay up too late laughing and telling stories. We put together Barbie houses and other toys the night before Christmas, giving me a glimpse of the life that my own would soon mimic (maybe more hockey nets than Barbie houses next to our fireplace, though). That rookie season might mean a little more than all of the others, because it was the realization of a dream.