SAN JOSE — Patrick Marleau woke up Saturday morning and fell right back into a familiar routine — driving to the Sharks practice facility and entering the dressing room to begin another day in the NHL.
“The smile hasn’t come off my face, for sure,” Marleau said after practice. “To be able to come back here and walk in this locker room and see my stuff up and see my name, it feels good to have somewhere to go and somewhere to play.”
It certainly beats what Marleau’s routine was just a week or two ago, when he renting ice time on his own dime at Solar4America Ice in San Jose — skating in a Toronto Maple Leafs practice jersey — still without a contract.