Marleau's finest season was 2009-10, when he finished third in voting for the All-Star Team, eighth for the Selke Trophy, and ninth for the Hart Trophy. He won a gold medal for Canada at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Because anybody can have one hot season, a player's peak is often based on his three best consecutive seasons. From 2008-09 to 2010-11, Marleau scored 227 points (119 goals, 108 assists) in 240 games, which was tied with Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins for No. 14. Defensively, Marleau earned 130 weighted votes for the Selke Trophy as the League's best defensive forward, which ranked No. 11.
That level of defensive play highlights his most underrated quality: versatility. Marleau has been an effective two-way player trusted in all manpower situations, in each of the three zones, in every score situation, against any opponent, and with any linemates.
Since 1997-98, Marleau ranks second among active NHL forwards with 20,749:58 minutes at even strength, third with 5,122:28 on the power play, and 16th with 1,410:40 shorthanded.
From 2009-10 to 2016-17, Marleau started 2,643 shifts in the offensive zone and 2,770 in the defensive zone, for a balanced zone-start percentage of 48.83 percent. That ranks No. 14 among the 21 San Jose forwards to play at least 100 games in that time.
He also was trusted against top opponents while in San Jose. Last season was an exception, but from 2009-10 through 2015-16, modern quality-of-competition estimates ranked him first or second among Sharks forwards. In 2014-15, for example, the forwards Marleau faced most frequently among division rivals included Taylor Hall (38:22) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (38:10) of the Edmonton Oilers;Daniel Sedin (37:36) and Henrik Sedin (36:58) of the Vancouver Canucks; Ryan Getzlaf (35:40) of the Anaheim Ducks; Sean Monahan (35:40) of the Calgary Flames; and Anze Kopitar (28:18) and Marian Gaborik (28:03) of the Los Angeles Kings, according to the data compiled at Natural Stat Trick.
Marleau contributes in many ways. Since 2006-07, he has won 51.4 percent of his face-offs, which ranks No. 37 among the 160 active players to take at least 1,000 in that time. In the shootout, Marleau has scored 15 goals in 46 attempts.
For two decades, Marleau has been a reliable two-way player who has been trusted in any game situation, and this season is no exception. He has been playing with Nazem Kadri and Leo Komarov on Toronto's tough-minutes line and has been one of the underrated keys to its early success.
Marleau has a three-year contract with Toronto, and if he maintains his consecutive-games streak, would end it with 1,739, putting Gordie Howe's record of 1,767 NHL games within reach.