If Patrick Marleau has his way, he'll pass Gordie Howe and become hockey's new king of longevity.
"His goal is to break Gordie's record," Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock told reporters, including the Mercury News' Curtis Pashelka, on Friday. "I wish him luck with that."
Howe retired as the NHL's all-time games played leader at 1,767, having also suited up for 419 WHA contests.
Marleau, who rejoined the San Jose Sharks earlier this month after two seasons with the Maple Leafs, entered Friday's game against Toronto having played 1,663 NHL games.
The 40-year-old hasn't missed a regular season game since 2008-09 and the Sharks have 72 contests left in 2019-20. If Marleau were to play in all of them, that would put him at 1,735 games played, vaulting him from fifth to third on the all-time list, while passing Ron Francis and Jaromir Jagr.
He would then need to appear in 33 games during the 2020-21 campaign to move past Howe for top spot on the list. Mark Messier sits second with 1,756.
Marleau's next game will be his 1,500th for the Sharks, with whom he spent his first 19 campaigns before signing with the Leafs as a free agent in the summer of 2017.
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