In one game Monday, San Jose veteran center Patrick Marleau scored a quarter of his 16 goals on the season, and those four goals came against a team that was missing nearly 33 percent of its active payroll.
The Avalanche is the NHL’s worst team, by far, but Marleau’s heroics in the Sharks’ 5-2 victory at the Pepsi Center were insult to injury for Colorado, which was missing four injured or ill players who collect a combined $23 million worth of salary. Center Matt Duchene, who is making $6 million, became ill Monday and was scratched along with injured defensemen Tyson Barrie ($5 million) and Erik Johnson ($6 million) and goaltender Semyon Varlamov ($6 million).