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​West Coast Swing Offers New Opportunities for Paul Martin

By Phil Ervin - Special to USAHockey.com, 10/19/15, 9:45AM MDT

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Olympian joined San Jose Sharks this year after five seasons in Pittsburgh

​It’s 2,030 miles from Paul Martin’s childhood hometown of Elk River, Minnesota, to San Jose, California. It’s even farther — 2,610 miles — from the Bay Area to Pittsburgh, where Martin spent the last half-decade of his life bringing veteran leadership to a championship-caliber hockey team and laying down roots in the process.

“Usually when you’re going into a season, you know what city you’re going to be in, you know the living conditions, the staff, players and that kind of thing,” said Martin, who inked a free-agent deal with the Sharks during the offseason. “There’s just a little more things you don’t have to worry about, things like where to be for summer workouts and finding a place to live.

“In a new place, you don’t always know what’s expected of you.”

But so far, the 34-year-old defenseman who’s played in Stanley Cup playoff games and cracked three Olympic Winter Games rosters has adapted nicely. Martin has an assist and is a plus-2 in San Jose’s first five games.

If there’s one word to characterize Martin’s on-ice charisma, it’s steady. He’s been a sound, dependable presence since learning to skate at Elk River’s Handke Pit — a natural valley in the middle of town that the locals flood every year and turn into a makeshift rink — and helping the University of Minnesota to NCAA championships in 2002 and 2003.

Since 2010, he’d called Pittsburgh home, recording 109 points in 297 games with the Penguins. He joined them two years after their 2009 Stanley Cup victory and has never played on a team that missed the playoffs.

He’s got a breadth of international experience, too. Sochi in 2014 brought his first actual taste of Olympic experience; he didn’t see any action in the 2006 Winter Games, and a broken arm rendered him inactive in Vancouver four years later.

“I’ve had some unfortunate events, but great memories, too,” said Martin, who’s also played in two world championships, one World Junior Championship and the 2004 World Cup of Hockey (he hopes to return when the event is rekindled next year).

And he brings the ability to weather challenges to San Jose.

Martin’s been through this experience of joining a new team before. He spent the first six years of his career with the New Jersey Devils before signing with Pittsburgh as a free agent.

But the West Coast is different.

“It’s got a more diverse culture than, say, Pittsburgh when it comes to restaurants and people,” he said. “It’s something new and exciting.”

He’s joined a team that seems to annually drum up expectations with exceptional play only to wilt when it matters most. Last year, the Sharks missed the postseason for the first time since 2003.

And although he’s still feeling out his surroundings, Martin got an immediate sense another early offseason won’t fly in his new left-coast home.

“In talking to a couple of the guys, you can definitely tell that missing the playoffs was a disappointment for this team and this organization,” said Martin, whose club is off to a 4-1-0 start. “Coming in this year, there’s a chip on guys’ shoulders to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.

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