Although
Northern California was a hotbed of hockey in the latter part
of the Original Six era, the first attempt to bring NHL hockey
to the region was a dismal failure. In 1976, the Oakland Seals
would move to Cleveland, where they would play for the final
two years as the Cleveland Barons. The owners of the Barons,
George Gund and Gordon Gund, would merge the team with the
Minnesota North Stars, which the two owned until 1990.
On May
9, 1990, the Gund brothers would sell their share of the North
Stars in return for the rights to a new team back in Northern
California. Thus, the Sharks, a nickname chosen from over
5000 entries submitted by mail, and inspired by the sharks
living in San Francisco Bay, were born. The team played its
first two seasons in the Cow Palace in Daly City, California,
before moving to the San Jose Arena (now the HP Pavilion),
or more colloquially, the Shark Tank, where they currently
play.
For the first two seasons, the Sharks were one of worst teams
in the NHL, as often happens to expansion teams. In the 1992-93
NHL season they had an NHL all-time-high 71 losses. The third,
1993-94 season, was more successful, the Sharks finished the
regular season with a 33-35-16 record, making the playoffs
with 82 points. That was 58 points more than in the previous
season, an NHL all-time record for single season points differential.
In the first round of playoffs, they met the President's Trophy
winning Detroit Red Wings, and won the series 4-3. In the
second round, they would lose to the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-4.
They made the second round of playoffs in the next season,
1994-95, as well. The key Sharks players at this time were
goalie Arturs Irbe, defensemen Sandis Ozolinsh and forwards
Igor Larionov and Sergei Makarov, under coach Kevin Constantine.
The next
season, 1995-96 season, was not as good as the previous two;
the Sharks finished last in the Pacific Division and failed
to make the playoffs. The team also underwent major changes:
during the season they traded Ozolinsh and Larionov; Irbe,
who had suffered an off-ice injury, was released at the end
of the season, and the team began rebuilding by acquiring
forward Owen Nolan from the Colorado Avalanche, as well as
several other players.
The Sharks
returned to the NHL playoffs two years later, in the 1997-98
NHL season, with goalie Mike Vernon, whom they acquired from
the Red Wings (the season after Vernon won the Conn Smythe
Trophy), and new head coach Darryl Sutter. For the next 5
years, the Sharks always made the playoffs, yet never advanced
past the second round. In the 2000-01 season, Russian goalie
Evgeni Nabokov became the starter for Sharks, winning the
Calder Memorial Trophy as the league's best rookie. The team
also acquired Finnish star forward Teemu Selanne from the
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, who played for the team until 2003.
The 2003-04
NHL season was the most successful in the history of the Sharks
so far. They finished the regular season with 104 points,
a team record, won the Pacific Division championship, and
were seeded second in the Western Conference. They won the
first two rounds of playoffs against the St. Louis Blues and
the Colorado Avalanche, before being defeated 4-2 in the Western
Conference finals by the Calgary Flames.
The
Sharks are often credited with popularizing teal as a color
for American sports teams. Team merchandise remains popular
around the world.
Founded:
1991
Arena: HP Pavilion (capacity: 17,483)
Uniform colors: Teal blue, Black, and Grey
Logo design: A shark biting a hockey stick
in half. The team also uses a secondary logo of a shark fin
emerging out of water.
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