San Jose Sharks is an ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. The team was founded in 1991 and played their first NHL season the very same year. There was a team in NHL from San Fransisco from 1967 to 1976 – the team was called California Golden Seals. The same owners got the expansion spot in 1991 and decided the club to be based in San Jose.

Basic information

The colours of San Jose Sharks are Deep Pacific teal, burnt orange and black. The key personnel of the club include General manager Doug Wilson and interim head coach Bob Boughner. The team has never won Stanley Cup, but they were in the finals in 2015-16. They have also one Presidents’ Trophy from season 2008-09. Their home arena has been SAP Center from year 1993. Sharks has one minor league affiliate club, Sane Jose Barracuda in AHL league.

Short History

The first noteworthy achievement of the Sharks is from season 1993-94, when the team defeated the biggest favourites to grab the Stanley Cup, Detroit Red Wings on the first play-off round. This is said to be the one of the biggest surprises ever in NHL history. From season 1997-98 onwards, San Jose has been a frequent post-season team, missing the play-offs only a couple of times.

The best season of the Sharks was 2015-16, the debut year of head coach Peter DeBoer. They made it to the play-offs and dropped LA Kings, Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues before losing to Pittsburgh Penguins in six games. The hunt for the first Stanley Cup continues up to date.

Joe Thornton – a living legend

Joe Thornton was traded to Sharks from Boston Bruins in 2005. His NHL stats with 1636 regular season games and 1509 points are respectable to say at least. Thornton is absolute top player, but one special thing about him is that he makes also his teammates look good on ice. He has perfect puck control and his passes are phenomenal. A class player.

Patrick Marleau – dedicated to Sharks

Patrick Marleau is a skillful all-round player, who has played all but two seasons of his NHL career in Sharks. His 1715 goals and 1186 points in regular season games do the talking, when you deal with Marleau. Being a natural leader, he was a captain of Sharks for five years. Marleau is highly versatile player, who has two Olympic gold medals from 2010 and 2014 Olympic games.

Evgeni Nabokov – top goalkeeper for Sharks

Kazakhstani-Russian goalkeeper Evgeni Nabokov started his NHL career in Sharks and served 10 seasons. His statistics are simply great. Always reliable goalkeeper, he even performed 50 shutouts for Sharks. Nabokov is one-time World champion in Russian national team. Evgeni Nabokov still works for Sharks organization as a goaltending coach.

Rest of the best

Sharks organization has been a home to many great players. We can mention for example Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Owen Nolan, Arturs Irbe, Vincent Damphousse and Jonathan Cheechoo. The list is endless.