I’m going to guess that most Sharks observers had the same reaction early in the 1997-98 season upon seeing Patrick Marleau for the first time.
“Who’s that?” I asked a colleague, incredulous, upon seeing Marleau streak down the ice with wings on his skates.
Marleau was just a kid then, 18 years old. The Sharks were even younger — just starting their seventh season.
The Sharks had compiled a relatively comprehensive dossier for such a young outfit.
Characters? You bet. The name Link Gaetz still elicits a smile from a true Sharks fan. In Season 3 the team acquired Igor Larionov and Sergei Makarov, two-thirds of the fabled Russian KLM line.