Marc-Edouard Vlasic will become just the 19th defenseman in NHL history to play in at least 1,300 games Thursday when the San Jose Sharks face the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.

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Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky confirmed Thursday morning that Vlasic will play against the Blue Jackets on the second leg of a five-game road trip, as San Jose’s lineup will remain the same after beating the Detroit Red Wings 6-3 on Tuesday.

Vlasic, 37, could have reached this milestone before Thursday. Along with the league going through a work stoppage and a pandemic, Vlasic had his share of injuries, including one that kept him out of the first half of this season, and was a healthy scratch over 20 times last season.

Still, Vlasic wouldn’t be here if he had not shown that he could play in the NHL at 19.

Vlasic, a second-round selection by the Sharks in 2005, made his NHL debut on Oct. 6, 2006, at what was then HP Pavilion in San Jose. He had 20:54 of ice time as the Sharks beat the St. Louis Blues 5-4 in overtime on a goal by Curtis Brown.

Vlasic said he knew then that he could play at this level.

“I was playing on the top pair, I think it was with (Scott) Hannan maybe. I was playing on the right side, too,” Vlasic recalled. “We were playing St Louis, I get on the ice and I’m playing against Keith Tkachuk and Bill Guerin and shutting them down in my first game. I believe we won in overtime.

“I was sitting in my car after the game, and I was like, ‘OK, I can play in this league.’ Right away, first game, I’m playing against two guys that I watched growing up, two guys that are huge, two guys that in 2006 you can probably get away with a lot more than you can now.”

As confident as Vlasic felt then, he also knew he could be sent back to junior hockey after nine NHL games without the first year of his entry-level contract being burned. However, considering that then-coach Ron Wilson was playing Vlasic about 20 minutes per game as a rookie, the teenager’s value to the Sharks was clear.

Former Sharks general manager Doug Wilson knew Vlasic could play in the NHL and kept him in San Jose rather than return him to the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL.

“I remember after my 10th game, I was like, ‘OK, I’m staying,’” Vlasic said. “And then, at some point, they put me in a billet in Los Gatos. I guess they were maybe waiting until 10 games.”

During this time, then-Remparts coach Patrick Roy, the Hall of Fame goalie, kept in touch with Wilson about whether Vlasic would be returned to junior hockey.

“Doug did tell me, ‘Yeah, he’s bothering me quite a bit — in a good way, saying, ‘Hey, when are you sending him back? When are you sending him back?” Vlasic said.

“And even when I left (Quebec), right before leaving, I bought a Mazda 3 two days before leaving for camp. I left it (with) the billet family in Quebec and said, ‘Oh, I’ll be back and drive it this year.’ Never came back.

“It’s funny, even I thought, ‘OK, I’m going to go to camp, come back at 19. You play junior or American League, build yourself up, and get ready. And even Patrick thought I was coming back, called Doug a bunch of times, and Doug finally said, ‘No, he’s staying.’”

Vlasic played 81 games that year, left the Mazda behind, and bought a Jeep, which he still owns today.

“The more games I play, the more fun I have,” Vlasic said of reaching the milestone. “It just means I’ve been doing what I love for a very long time, very fortunate to do that. And what I think is cool — not just playing 1,300 games — but doing it with one team, and hopefully a lot more as well. Obviously, not another 1,000, but the rest of the year, next year. So, I feel privileged to be able to say I played that many games with one team.”