The best player in the history of the San Jose Sharks in franchise – Hockey Writer – Shark History

The San Jose Shark is a team that lacks the history of Montreal Canadians. The team’s start in the league brought San Jose to the 1991 expansion draft with the Minnesota Polaris. Since then, the Sharks have appeared in the Stanley Cup finals and five Western Conference finals and have won a presidential trophy.

Only five players were selected to make difficult decisions. It is worth noting that I didn’t choose a defender to crack this historic San Jose roster. I want to choose not only players who work for a long time in the organization, but also important contributors to high-quality teams.

For example, while Igor Larionov and Vincent damphousse are crucial in the shark’s formation year, they lack the required lifespan of the shark. Additionally, Marc-Edouard Vlasic barely missed the promotion because I think he was on the job, but he was never a very dominant player.

5. Owen Nolan

In October 1995, the Sharks traded Sandys Ozone Ice Cream with the newly named Colorado Avalanche in exchange for right-wing winger Owen Nolan. Nolan has certainly been successful in his eight seasons with Teal, who ranked 11th in the organization’s 568 games.

Nolan saw the Sharks miss the playoffs comfortably in the first two seasons in San Jose. However, his remaining season with the team was titled with first and second playoff appearances. This includes the 2000 NHL playoffs, with Nolan having eight goals and 10 points in 10 games.

In the history of the Sharks, Nolan ranked sixth in goals, assisted eight points and seventh in scoring. But Nolan’s perseverance and edge may be why more fans remember the draft pick that first crossed in 1990. His 934 free throws in San Jose were second only to Jeff Odgers. Many may remember that Netminder refused to re-sign after he upgraded Ed Belfour in the 1998 playoffs after the club struck a big deal to acquire him.

Nolan finally saw his time in San Jose when the team traded with the Toronto Maple Leafs on the 2003 NHL trade deadline. His career ended with 1,200 games, 885 points and 1,793 minutes of free throws. He has performed well in San Jose and Sharks fans will be remembered forever. His five years as captain are the longest worn by a single Sharks player in a “C”.

4. EvgeniNabokov

In the ninth round of the 1994 NHL draft, the Sharks chose Russia’s Netminder Evgeni Nabokov. It wasn’t until the 1999-00 NHL season that started the NHL for “Nabby”, and the goalkeeper really left his mark in San Jose for the following season.

Nabokov is a high-quality starter in San Jose. His first season as a starter in 2000-01 put Netminder one of 16 goalkeepers and the only Shark, once won Calder Trophy as the league’s Rookie of the Year. During his entire process at Teal Nabokov, he had over 65 games in four seasons and played more than 70 games in two.

Related: Top 3 San Jose Sharks Goalkeepers in History

In nine seasons with San Jose’s starter, he led the team to five Pacific Division Champions, the President’s trophy and personally won five Vezina trophy nominations. He saw the Sharks in the second round of the playoffs most of his seasons at Teal, including two Western Conference Finals.

He completed his NHL career with 697 games, 0.911 percentage savings and a single NHL goal. Nabokov has been the goalkeeper’s Sharks director since 2019. He ranked first in the game and won the Sharks goalkeeper, fifth in save percentage and third in the average goal percentage.

3. JoePavelski

With its 205th pick in the 2003 NHL Draft, the Sharks gambled on USHL forward Joe Pavelski. After an additional season, two years of dominance between the Waterloo Blackhawks and the University of Wisconsin, Pavelski became a professional and historic face in San Jose.

Pavelski is one of the best shooters San Jose has ever had, if not one of the greatest. He posted four seasons with more than 35 goals, including 41 goals in 2013-14. His 73 Stanley Cup playoff goals were the biggest hit by the Americans ever.

“Little Joe” transitioned to “Big Pavelski” with his regular season and playoff performances. His leadership saw him win the captain in the 2015-16 season, when the Sharks quickly reached their first and only Stanley Cup final.

In the final playoffs with the Sharks, the most important thing is how important he is to the team. His injury sparked a controversial power game in the first round of the 2019 playoffs against the Golden Knights, the greatest comeback in Sharks history. His signing with the Dallas star left a huge goal and leadership in the subsequent offseason, the Sharks have not yet replaced and have led to the team’s recent decline.

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Pavelski ranked fourth in the game, second in goals, third in scores and fourth in assists. His four seasons as captain tied for the second-longest term in Sharks history with Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau.

2. Patrick Marleau

Many people regard “Patty” as the greatest Shark player in history. Patrick Marleau comfortably found himself the Sharks leader for game and goals, having a good finish in Thornton’s assists. And, after Marleau broke the record for most games in NHL history, I considered putting him in the first place.

However, I was hesitant to make Marlow the greatest Sharks player of all time, which I rarely say is the best player in a given Sharks roster. Marleau led the Sharks to score twice in his career, fewer than the other three forwards on the roster. The second draft in 1997 has been a constant choice in the team’s roster, but, throughout his tenure, he has never proven to be a world-class player.

Related: Sharks have reason to choose Thornton over Marlow

Regardless, Mr. Shark has an incredible history with sharks. Marleau is part of all five Sharks, entering the third round of the playoffs. He reached 30 goals seven times in his career, including 41 goals in 2009-10 years, seeing him reach three All-Star games. He keeps appearing on the team as he sees the most playoff games and scores in San Jose history.

However, Marleau is always known for his incredible consistency and work ethics, which led to record-breaking competitions in his history.

1. Joe Thornton

On November 30, 2005, General Manager Doug Wilson became the largest trade in San Jose history. For Marco Sturm, Wayne Primeau and Brad Stuart, the Sharks won the first pick in 1997 Joe Thornton. The Boston Brown Bears are transitioning to a young talent core and have decided to trade Thornton, who has started a passionate start this season.

That season, “Giant Joe” entered the Art Rose and Hart Memorial Trophy. He even helped Jonathon Cheechoo win Rocket Richard Trophy, the only shark to win that honor. Thornton finished second in the NHL in 2006-07 and established himself as the best organizer in Sharks history and one of the greatest people in league history.

In the 2010-11 season, Thornton won the captain, and he was probably the Sharks’ biggest goal in the subsequent playoffs. His overtime goal put the team into the second round and his sliding celebrations remained a signature moment in Charter history. He will serve as captain until the 2013-14 season.

Thornton is a large part of the organization’s recent success. He led San Jose in the 2015-16 season and scored 21 points in 25 playoff games. He just scored 0.5 points in the 2018-19 season and the third-tier playoffs.

Unfortunately, Thornton chose to try to win his first Stanley Cup against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2020 offseason, and the gambling didn’t work as they bounced in the first round of the Montreal Canadaens.

Thornton led San Jose’s assists, and despite significantly fewer games, he was 56 points behind Marleau. In my opinion, he left a bigger mark than Marleau in the days of San Jose and should be the greatest player in franchise history.

Who do you think is considered the best player in Sharks history? Let me know in the comments below.