San Jose Sharks: All-Decade Team for the 2010s

Defenseman No. 2: Marc-Edouard Vlasic

Marc-Eduoard Vlasic hasn’t put up the same eye-popping numbers that the other players on this list have and still do. Vlasic is never going to be a 60-point scorer or score 20 goals in a season, but that’s perfectly okay.

‘Pickles’ — as is he is so passionately known by Sharks fans —  just has to be Pickles.

Vlasic is a rock-solid defender who has served the Sharks well for well over a decade now. It’s crazy to think that the now-32-year-old debuted with the club way back in 2006 when he was just 19-years-old.

Now, he’s the second-longest tenured player on the team behind Thornton.

Only two players in Sharks history have played more games in teal than Vlasic — Marleau and Thornton. And Vlasic doesn’t appear to be done with the Sharks any time soon.

While it might be difficult to catch Marleau’s insane record of over 1,500 games and counting, passing Thornton is very much in reach assuming that the former Boston Bruins star does, indeed, retire eventually.

Vlasic isn’t flashy, but he always seems to do the unheralded acts. He rarely commits penalties, he remains a stout shot-blocker, and on a team full of offensive-minded defensemen, he continues to serve as an excellent defensive presence.

He’s never going to win a Norris Trophy and no one will ever confuse him for Erik Karlsson, but Pickles is the glue that keeps the Sharks defense (mostly) together.

And without him, the others on this list likely wouldn’t have found nearly as much success.