- Mason Marchment says reaching the playoffs is “the bare minimum” for the Sharks this season
- He will wear No. 27 in San Jose, the number his late father Bryan wore with the franchise
- Read below for what he said about Joe Thornton, Macklin Celebrini and the Sharks core
Mason Marchment did not sign in San Jose to wait around for a rebuild.
NHL.com’s Mike Zeisberger asked the 31-year-old winger what he expects from a Sharks group that went 39-35-8 and finished fifth in the Pacific Division last season.
“For me, reaching the postseason is the bare minimum for us. If we’re not thinking in those terms, then we’re not thinking the right way. I mean, when you look at all these talented kids on this team, it’s an exciting time to be a Shark.”
San Jose has not played a playoff game since 2019, so that is a big swing from a guy who has been in the building for about two months.
General manager Mike Grier gave him reasons to talk that way. Marchment signed a five-year deal worth $33.75 million on the opening day of free agency, and Darnell Nurse and Jacob Trouba arrived to put some size around the kids.
The sweater means more than the money here. Marchment will wear No. 27 in San Jose, the number his father Bryan wore over six seasons with the Sharks.
Bryan Marchment died in 2022 at the age of 53 while working as a scout for the organization. He played 334 games in teal and piled up 706 penalty minutes doing it.
Four years after his dad’s death, the son was asked what it feels like to actually be one.
“It’s still kind of crazy for me to think about, even now, that I’m a Shark. Like I said when I signed, it’s kind of come full circle, right? I grew up there from age 4 through 10 and have a lot of great memories from there.”
Watch him break it down with the team the day he signed:
His childhood favorite was Joe Thornton, and the two ended up as teammates in Florida in 2021-22. Marchment told San Jose Hockey Now in July that Thornton had already been down to play his golf course.
Thornton comes up again through Macklin Celebrini, who billeted with the Thornton family the past two seasons and then broke Jumbo’s single-season franchise points record with 115.
Celebrini turned that into a five-year, $94 million extension in July. The $18.8 million average annual value is the highest in NHL history.
Sharks skaters are already back on the ice in San Jose with camp closing in. Here are the first looks in teal:
Marchment put up 19 goals and 26 assists in 68 games split between Seattle and Columbus last season. It was also the first season of his career that ended without a playoff game, which is a decent explanation for where the bare-minimum line came from.
