3 Wild Card Candidates for the San Jose Sharks Captaincy
![SAN JOSE, CA - APRIL 18: Tomas Hertl #48, Brent Burns #88, Erik Karlsson #65, Joe Pavelski #8 and Joe Thornton #19 of the San Jose Sharks celebrates scoring a goal against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game Five of the Western Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at SAP Center on April 18, 2019 in San Jose, California (Photo by Brandon Magnus/NHLI via Getty Images) SAN JOSE, CA - APRIL 18: Tomas Hertl #48, Brent Burns #88, Erik Karlsson #65, Joe Pavelski #8 and Joe Thornton #19 of the San Jose Sharks celebrates scoring a goal against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game Five of the Western Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at SAP Center on April 18, 2019 in San Jose, California (Photo by Brandon Magnus/NHLI via Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/8915f7f843405019e8dd7b629a3590c036ce0a42551b3acdec3a3c5304d9d6b5.jpg)
Marc-Edouard Vlasic
Pickles will be entering his 14th year with the San Jose Sharks after being drafted by the organization in 2005 as a 2nd round pick. As the longest tenured home-grown member of Team Teal Marc-Edouard Vlasic has been integral to this strong run of consistent playoff contention put together General Manager Doug Wilson and his staff.
Throughout his nearly decade and a half career with the Sharks, MEV has been consistently leaned upon on the ice for his elite defensive abilities. Effectively neutralizing the opposing teams best options on offense and playing huge minutes on special teams.
There are plenty of arguments for Vlasic’s candidacy for captaincy although he has been known to get a bit short with the media and at times too critical of the Sharks play.
This isn’t to say that the 32-year-old blueliner can’t adjust his tune a bit when it comes to added pressure of being captain. We’ve seen Pickles come up huge for San Jose plenty of times in years past and this situation could be no different.