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74 Days to Opening Day: The Story of Dylan DeMelo
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- 74 Days to Opening Day: The Story of Dylan DeMelo
Opening day is rapidly approaching, as we're down to 74 days until the San Jose Sharks host the Florida Panthers to kick off the 2026-27 season. There has only been one player to ever wear the number 74 for the Sharks: Dylan DeMelo .
The Sharks drafted DeMelo with the 179th overall pick in the 2011 NHL Draft. He went on to make his professional debut during the 2011-12 season with the Sharks' American Hockey League affiliate at the time, the Worcester Sharks, appearing in four games before returning to the Ontario Hockey League for the 2012-13 season.
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After his final junior season came to an end, he returned to Worcester for another short stint at the end of the 2012-13 season, appearing in 10 games this time. He then spent two full seasons with the Sharks' farm team before making his NHL debut during the 2015-16 season. He played 45 games for the Sharks in his rookie campaign, splitting time between the NHL and the Sharks' newly relocated AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda.
DeMelo remained with the Sharks through the end of the 2017-18 season. On September 18, 2018, DeMelo was traded to the Ottawa Senators along with multiple other assets in a deal that brought star defenseman Erik Karlsson to the Bay Area.
DeMelo only spent a season and a half in Canada's capital, as the Senators traded him to cross-country to the Winnipeg Jets in February of 2020 in exchange for a third round pick. Since then, he's been a mainstay on the Jets' blue line.
All-in-all, DeMelo has played 718 career NHL games at this point, certainly a respectable total for a former sixth-round draft pick. He still has quite a bit of gas left in the tank as well at just 33 years of age.
