49 Fun Facts About San Jose Sharks

The Gund brothers sold which team and received an expansion franchise, creating the Sharks?

Minnesota North Stars: the Gunds had asked to move that club to the Bay Area, and the league refused, then let them sell it, start a new team in San Jose and take some of its players along.

Whom did the Sharks take second overall, behind Eric Lindros, with their first-ever draft pick in 1991?

Pat Falloon led the first-year Sharks in scoring, but two players taken within the next four picks, Scott Niedermayer and Peter Forsberg, reached the Hall of Fame and he never did.

Which Bay Area team, later moved to Cleveland, was the region's last NHL club before the Sharks?

California Golden Seals: nine NHL seasons in Oakland brought no winning record and thin crowds, so the club left in 1976 and the Bay Area went 15 years without a team.

Where did the Sharks play their first two seasons while their permanent San Jose home was being built?

The Cow Palace in Daly City was the same old livestock hall the NHL had rejected as a home for its 1967 Bay Area expansion club, yet the Sharks filled nearly every seat there.

Which former Norris Trophy defenseman was the Sharks' first captain and later their general manager?

Doug Wilson came from Chicago a month before the first game, and within weeks of becoming general manager in 2003 he drafted a future Sharks captain in the seventh round.

Which unwanted NHL single-season record have the Sharks held since 1992–93?

Most losses: the 1992–93 Sharks dropped 71 of 84 games, 17 of them in a row, yet one season later the same club reached the playoffs and knocked out top-seeded Detroit.

Despite finishing last, the early Sharks led the NHL in what off the ice?

Merchandise sales: the club had dressed in teal, the trendy colour of 1990s sport, and its sweater with a shark biting a hockey stick became a hit however badly the team played.

How did mascot S. J. Sharkie make his debut in January 1992?

Emerging from a Zamboni proved the safer entrance: in 1999 he got stuck on a rope while rappelling from the rafters, and the game could not start until he was hoisted to safety.

Which goalie played 74 games as the 1993–94 Sharks reached their first playoffs?

Arturs Irbe, the Latvian whom fans called Archie, started nearly every night as the Sharks improved by 58 points, and he was in goal when the eighth seed eliminated top-seeded Detroit in seven games.

Who scored the Game 7 winner at Joe Louis Arena in 1994 as the eighth-seeded Sharks stunned Detroit?

Jamie Baker pounced late in a 2–2 game when rookie goalie Chris Osgood's clearing attempt landed on his stick, and the top-seeded Red Wings were out in the first round.

Which defenseman was traded to Colorado for Owen Nolan in 1995-96?

Sandis Ozolinsh went to Colorado in October 1995 and won the Stanley Cup there the following spring, while Owen Nolan stayed in San Jose for years and became the Sharks' captain.

Whom did the Sharks select second overall in the 1997 draft?

Patrick Marleau left San Jose twice and came back both times, and it was as a Shark in 2021 that he passed Gordie Howe's record for NHL games played.

Which goalie won the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie for San Jose in 2000–01?

Evgeni Nabokov, a 219th-overall pick born in Kazakhstan, held the job for ten seasons and in 2002 shot the puck into Vancouver's net to score a goal himself.

Who went to Boston with Brad Stuart and Wayne Primeau in the 2005 trade that brought Jumbo Joe to San Jose?

Marco Sturm made it three players for one, and the centre San Jose got back went on to lead the whole league in scoring that same season.

Which Shark won the Rocket Richard Trophy with 56 goals in 2005-06?

Jonathan Cheechoo took off once a late-November trade gave him a new centre, and he edged Jaromir Jagr for the league's goal-scoring title.

Which eighth seed knocked out the Presidents' Trophy-winning Sharks in the 2009 first round?

Anaheim Ducks: the eighth seed needed only six games, turning the tables on a franchise that had made its name in 1994 as an eighth seed knocking out the top team.

Which veteran rejoined the NHL with San Jose in 2008-09 after a five-year absence?

Claude Lemieux, 43 and a former playoff MVP, worked his way back through a club in China and the minor leagues, played part of one season and retired for good.

Which veteran defenseman did the Sharks name captain in 2009 after stripping the 'C' from their 1997 second-overall pick?

Rob Blake, re-signed at 39, wore the 'C' for a single season, took the Sharks to the conference final and then retired, so the captaincy changed hands again.

Which Cup-winning Blackhawks goalie signed with San Jose in September 2010?

Antti Niemi had swept the Sharks in that spring's conference final on his way to the Cup, but Chicago walked away from his arbitration award and San Jose signed the goalie who had beaten it.

Whose overtime goal capped the Sharks' comeback from 4–0 down in Game 3 of a 2011 playoff series?

Devin Setoguchi scored three minutes into overtime after the Sharks had wiped out the whole 4–0 deficit with five goals in the second period alone.

Which All-Star defenseman came to San Jose from the Minnesota Wild in a 2011 trade and later won the Norris Trophy?

Brent Burns was moved up to forward by the Sharks for parts of two seasons, then went back to defense and in 2017 was voted the NHL's best at the position.

Which rival came back from 3–0 down to eliminate the Sharks in 2014, only the fourth such comeback in NHL history?

Los Angeles Kings: they finished the comeback with a 5–1 win in Game 7 and went on to lift the Stanley Cup, while the Sharks began the next season without a captain.

Which 49ers home hosted the Sharks' 2015 outdoor game, a 2–1 loss watched by 70,205 fans?

Levi's Stadium, which had opened only months earlier, got the game a year after outdoor hockey at Dodger Stadium had proved a success in California.

Which coach, hired in 2015, took San Jose to its first Stanley Cup Final the next spring?

Peter DeBoer had been fired by another NHL club five months before the Sharks hired him, and for the second time in his career he reached the Final in his first season with a team.

Which goalie, acquired from Boston in June 2015, carried the Sharks to the Stanley Cup Final the next spring?

Martin Jones, a career backup until then, was traded twice in five days that June, and within a year he was starting in the first Stanley Cup Final in Sharks history.

Which team beat the Sharks in the 2016 Stanley Cup Final?

Pittsburgh Penguins: Sidney Crosby's team won in six games, so the first Final in the Sharks' 25-year history ended with the Cup being handed over on their own ice in San Jose.

Which Finnish star joined the Sharks by trade in March 2001?

Teemu Selanne, who had set the NHL rookie record with 76 goals, played two full seasons in teal, then turned down a $6.5 million option to sign for less with Colorado in the hope of winning a Stanley Cup.

Whose injury drew the five-minute major behind the Sharks' 2019 Game 7 comeback against Vegas?

Joe Pavelski, the captain, was helped off the ice; trailing 3–0, his teammates scored four times during the penalty, and Barclay Goodrow won the series in overtime.

Which Sharks forward's contract was terminated in 2022 for violating AHL COVID-19 protocol?

Evander Kane cleared waivers and signed with Edmonton, which gave him a four-year extension that summer, while his grievance against the Sharks was settled later in the year.

Mike Grier, hired in July 2022, made history as the NHL's first what?

Black general manager: Mike Grier had played three seasons for the Sharks as a winger, and he came back 13 years later to run the club.

Which city hosted the Sharks' 2022 season-opening games against Nashville?

Prague: after an exhibition in Berlin the Sharks opened the NHL season there and lost both games, in the home city of one of their own star forwards.

Which team acquired Timo Meier from San Jose in an 11-piece trade in February 2023?

New Jersey Devils: the rebuilding Sharks wanted futures, so they sold the first player in club history to score five goals in a game for two conditional first-round picks and prospects.

Erik Karlsson's 101 points in 2022–23 made him the first defenseman to reach 100 since whom in 1992?

Brian Leetch had 102 points for New York in 1991–92; Karlsson matched the feat on a team that won only 22 games, collected the Norris Trophy and was traded six weeks later.

Which unwanted first since the 1965–66 Bruins did the 2023–24 Sharks manage?

Allowing 10 goals in consecutive games: they lost 10–1 and 10–2 two nights apart during a winless 11-game start, and the season ended with the Sharks winning the draft lottery for the first time.

Whom did the Sharks select first overall in 2024 after winning their first draft lottery?

Macklin Celebrini had worn the logo before: he played a season of youth hockey for the San Jose Jr. Sharks after his father took a job with a Bay Area NBA team, then came back as the top pick.

Which 19-year-old Sharks rookie scored four goals in one game against the Rangers in October 2013?

Tomas Hertl was playing only his third NHL game, and he scored the fourth by pulling the puck back between his own legs before beating the goalie.

Which Sharks captain announced his retirement in April 2025, having spent his entire NHL career with the club?

Logan Couture had not played since January 2024 because of a groin and pelvic condition, and he said it had left him unable to skate well enough to come back.

Which shark-heavy stretch of ocean off the Bay Area did the Sharks cite when explaining their name?

The Red Triangle runs from Bodega Bay past the Farallon Islands to Big Sur, and its marine mammals draw great white sharks, one reason the club gave for choosing its name.

Which colour was added as trim when the Sharks moved to Reebok Edge jerseys in 2007?

Orange replaced gray in the stripes, numbers and collar when the whole NHL moved to a new jersey template, a break from the gray trim the Sharks had worn since their first season.

Which slogan appeared inside the neckline of the Sharks' Adidas jerseys from 2017?

This Is Sharks Territory went inside the collar in 2017, one of the few changes the club allowed when it switched to Adidas, because it wanted to keep its existing look.

Which NBA team shared the Sharks' arena for the entire 1996–97 season while its own home was renovated?

Golden State Warriors: their Oakland arena was closed for a $121 million renovation, so they played every home game of a 30–52 season in the Sharks' building.

Under what original name did SAP Center open in 1993?

San Jose Arena was the plain name until 2001, when the rights were sold; it became Compaq Center, then HP Pavilion a year later because Hewlett-Packard had bought Compaq.

Which OHL team did Joe Thornton play for before going first overall in 1997?

Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds: it is the club where Gretzky first wore 99, because a teammate already had 9, and where Thornton was named Canadian junior hockey's rookie of the year.

During the 2004–05 lockout, Joe Thornton won a league title and the Spengler Cup with which Swiss club?

HC Davos put Thornton on a line with fellow NHL stars Rick Nash and Niklas Hagman, and he grew so attached to the club that he went back to train with it in later summers.

Which team beat the Sharks in the 1994 second round after San Jose led the series 3-2?

Toronto Maple Leafs: Game 6 went to overtime with the Sharks one goal from the conference final, but a San Jose shot hit the crossbar, Mike Gartner scored, and Toronto won Game 7 as well.

Which AHL team became the Sharks' San Jose-based farm club in 2015?

Barracuda: the AHL formed a new Pacific Division that year with five charter clubs, and the Sharks brought their Worcester farm team west to play in the big club's own building.

Which team eliminated the Sharks in six games in their first Western Conference Final, in 2004?

Calgary Flames: they were coached by Darryl Sutter, whom the Sharks had fired 17 months earlier, and backstopped by a goalie San Jose had traded to him that same season.

Joe Thornton won two major NHL awards in 2005–06 despite a mid-season trade: the Art Ross Trophy and which other?

Hart Trophy: he was voted most valuable player after arriving in San Jose, where his new linemate went on to finish as the league's top goal scorer.

Which Sharks broadcaster received the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award in 2023?

Dan Rusanowsky has called Sharks games on radio since their first season, and he did not miss a single broadcast until an accident in 2000 ended his streak at 774.