San Jose – When he started his career as San Jose Sharks almost 20 years ago, Marc -Edouard Vlasic did not have to look far to understand what it meant to be a professional and how to prepare to play a full NHL season.
His first defense partner was Scott Hannan, and when Vlasic arrived in San Jose, Patrick Marleau was already in the NHL for seven seasons. Only a few months after Vlasic made his debut at the Sharks, Joe Thornton became one of his teammates.
These three players combined to play more than 4,500 games in the NHL.
“Being in the locker room with older guys, Jumbo, Patty, Hanner, see how they are preparing for a game, what they do on a daily basis,” said Vlasic. “I also forget other guys, but … at 19, to have helped me, and now I try to do the same.”
Vlasic, now 38 years old, was nominated by the chapter of San Jose of the Professional Hockey Writers Association for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which recognizes the player who best illustrates perseverance, sporting spirit and dedication to hockey.
The 32 of the Chapters of the PHWA around the NHL Nominent a player for the prize, which has been awarded each season since 1968 and commemorates Masterton, a former player of the northern minnesota stars who exhibited these qualities. He died on January 15, 1968 following an ice injury.
Vlasic is now the oldest shark and will play in its 1,319th NHL match on Wednesday evening when San Jose faces Minnesota Wild at the Xcel Energy Center to start a four -game road trip. Only 66 players in the history of the League have played more matches.
Last month, Vlasic set a new NHL record for most shooting blocked the career and entered 2,181 blocks on Wednesday. The longtime defender of NHL Mark Giordano held the previous brand of 2,164.
Earlier this month, Vlasic also only became the fourth defender of the NHL history to score at least one goal in 19 consecutive seasons with a team, joining Ray Bourque (21 seasons), Nicklas Lidström (20 seasons) and Kris Letang (19 seasons).
However, this was one of the most difficult seasons in Vlasic. He missed the entire training camp and the first 40 games with an upper body injury. Consequently, he had only played in 22 games before Wednesday, because he was mainly used in a third twinning role.
But Vlasic remains a stable presence for Sharks and a precious resource for their young defenders.
“This guy is all the time,” said Sharks defender Henry Thrun, 24, about Vlasic. “He’s a friend, he’s a mentor, he’s a great hockey player, someone I really liked to be able to play and get to know in recent years.”
Ryan Warsofsky has resulted in Vlasic in the past three seasons.
“A real pro in every sense of the word,” said Warsofsky about Vlasic. “He had the injury in the training camp, worked extremely hard to come back to this point to be an option for us. When he returned, he worked extremely hard on his game, on and out of the ice
“What’s great about Marc is that he’s the same guy every day. What you see is what we see too.”
Vlasic will go to the 66th on the list of matches of all time of the NHL, after Jeff Carter (1,321), if he dresses for three of the last four Sharks games this season. Vlasic is also signed next season when he ends the extension of the eight -year contract he signed with the Sharks in 2017.
“I played a lot of games, I loved every moment,” said Vlasic. “I just have fun.”
Eklund Homecoming: Sharks striker William Eklund confirmed on Wednesday that he would play for Sweden at the IIHF world championships next month. Stockholm, the hometown of Eklund, co-organizes the tournament with Herning, Denmark.
“This is something I grew up in wanting to do,” said Eklund, wearing the jersey of the Swedish national team. “It is something that every child, growing, wanted to do, so it’s a huge honor.”
Programming remarks: Sharks winger Tyler Toffoli, who missed Monday’s home game against Calgary’s Flames with a lower body injury, is a match decision to play against Wild, Warsofsky said. Toffoli leads the Sharks with 28 goals this season. … With Collin Graf returned Tuesday at Barracuda, the Klim Kostin winger will take this place in the range of Sharks. Kostin, a limited free agent pending, was a healthy scratch in eight of the last nine games. … The Sharks will face goalkeeper Marc-André Fleury one last time. In 19 career games against the Sharks, Fleury, before Wednesday, had a 20-5-4 file with a percentage of .940 and three whitening stops. The Wilds also put forward Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov, who came out with lower body injuries. Eriksson EK has not played since February 22 and Kaprizov electricity played for the last time on January 26.
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