How has Patrick Marleau played against the Chicago Blackhawks?

The Chicago Blackhawks have an incredibly important game tonight against the Nashville Predators. Some would call it a must-win in terms of their playoff chances. That is a big story in the NHL but the biggest story is coming over in Las Vegas, Nevada. Patrick Marleau of the San Jose Sharks is going to play in his 1768th career NHL game against the Vegas Golden Knights. That total will pass the legendary Gordie Howe for the most in the history of the league.

Anytime you pass Gordie in any category, you know that you are special. Marleau tied the record on Saturday night against the Minnesota Wild. In his career, he has played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Pittsburgh Penguins as well but everybody knows that he is a legendary San Jose Shark.

In his incredible career, he has 566 goals and 630 assists for 1196 points. At 41 years old, he surely isn’t the player he was many years ago but he has had a very nice career. His Hall of Fame case is going to be debated for a few years now when he is done but that is a topic for a different day.

Some Chicago fans might be wondering how he has played against their team throughout his career. In 23 years and just shy of 1800 games, you know that he is going to have played against them a bunch. 21 years of that has been with San Jose, a Western Conference foe, so you know that he has had plenty of chances.

Marleau has scored at least one goal against every team in the National Hockey League. Against the Hawks, he had 24 goals and 24 assists for 48 points in 76 games. 14 of his goals came at even strength and the other ten were on the power play. Five of those goals stood as game-winners for his team.

Patrick Marleau was not much of a penalty guy in his career. The Lady Byng ballot has seen his name on it more than once. Somehow, he has 41 career penalty minutes against the Hawks. That is the second-most against any opponent. The only team he has more against are the Anaheim Ducks who he has played 47 more times in his career and he only has five more against them. It is one of the more strange statistics linked to the Hawks and Marleau.

Marleau’s stats don’t stop against the Hawks in the regular season either. He only ever played against them in the playoffs one time. It was the 2010 Western Conference Finals. The Hawks won the series in a sweep and went on to win the Stanley Cup. In the four-game series, Marleau had five goals and one assist for six points. It was a very good series for him on a personal note but the Hawks sent him and his team home.

One of the most fascinating stats about his career is that he has appeared in at least one game with 37 percent of every player to ever play in the NHL. Of the 8100 players to play in the history of this league, Marleau has skated on the same surface in the same game as 3009 of them. That is a lot of different teammates and opponents over that span of time.

Regardless of being on another team, Marleau is the type of player that deserves every fanbase’s respect. He was nothing but class and an elite talent during his entire NHL career. Congrats to him on breaking Gordie Howe’s record. Mr. Hockey is smiling down knowing that his record is being broken by someone as graceful as Patrick Marleau.