The San Jose Sharks MOUNT RUSHMORE

The San Jose Sharks MOUNT RUSHMORE

The San Jose Sharks were the start of a large movement of NHL franchises in the American Sunb Belt in the9s with other states like Arizona, Texas, and Florida getting teams. Born in the shadow of the dubious California Golden Seals, the Sharks endured some harsh expansion years to carve an identity for pro sports in San Jose and the surrounding South Bay area. They may have never won the Stanley Cup, appearing in just one final, but from their eccentric personalities to their unforgettable branding, the Sharks have always had something that sets them apart from the rest of the pack. This video celebrates the San Jose Sharks Mount Rushmore. That is the four most important, influential, and iconic figures in franchise history. And unlike our 32 team video from 2 years ago, this isn’t limited to players, but includes coaches, executives, and even owners. What’s your favorite Sharks memory? Comment below. And also, let me know which teams Rushmore I should do next. Also, halfway through this video, just after the honorable mentions, I’m going to shout out a youth hockey organization I’m helping raise funds for. I appreciate you checking that out. All right, let’s get rolling. So, we’re going to start with the first person on our Rushmore, and that’s the founding father of Sharks hockey, the first owner, George Gund III. What makes you think hockey will succeed in Northern California when it has failed so badly before? When you look back at the history of hockey in the Bay Area, it’s easy to wonder how the sport survived here at all. Oakland’s Golden Seals of the 60s and 70s never had a winning season and couldn’t draw. So when San Jose was granted an NHL franchise in 1990, many thought it would crash and burn like the Seals or other failed expansion projects like the Scouts in KC or the Flames in Atlanta. But fueled by his entrepreneurial spirit and stewardship to the sport, George Gun III brought pro hockey back to the Bay Area and set it up for long-term success. George and his brother Gordon actually had minority stakes in the Seals their final year in Oakland and pushed to bring legitimacy to the franchise with a new arena in San Francisco, but their efforts came up short. After a disastrous two years in Cleveland with the rebranded Barons, they dissolved the franchise into the Minnesota Northstars. But the Guns had not given up on Bay Area hockey, even trying to relocate the Northstars there in the 1980s until the NHL shot it down. A few years later though, they gave up their stakes with Minnesota, investing $50 million in expansion fees alone. The referees allowing it to go on. Here’s a break. The shot scores. The San Jose Sharks were born, but they wouldn’t swim without some growing pains. For one, they had to play 45 minutes away in a smaller barn from the 1940s, the Cow Palace. Yeah, an actual livestock venue. They had two abysmal seasons there before the San Jose Arena, today’s SAP Center, was completed. But the community of San Jose quickly embraced the Sharks. After all, this rapidly growing city never had a pro team in the NFL, MLB, or NBA like their neighbors San Francisco and Oakland. Fresh off their dubious 11- win season in ‘9293, the team made a miraculous turnaround to not only qualify for the playoffs, but upset the top-seated Red Wings and come just a crossbar away from the conference final versus the Maple Leafs. The city of San Jose welcomed the boys home from Toronto with a parade, cementing the Sharks as the South Bay team. Under the Guns, the Sharks pulled off another stunning upset in ’95, made one of their best trades in franchise history for Owen Nolan, hosted the All-Star game in 97, and later that year drafted a franchise cornerstone will spotlight later on. Without George’s fervor for the game, and unrelenting will to rewrite the mistakes of the base first franchise, San Jose may have never become a new hockey market. Sure, the on ice product was often a losing one, but the vision and leadership from the top held things together for a better future ahead. As Commissioner Gary Bman said, hockey was a passion for George Gun III, and that passion manifested itself in his love for the Sharks, for San Jose, and for the Bay Area. George made a commitment for bringing hockey to Northern California, and did it in a way that excited the community and silenced the skeptics. From a rocky but promising start to the franchise to the almost glory days of the late as 2010s, we go to our next figure on the Sharks Mount Rushmore, Joe Thornton. Now he’s wandering back toward the line. Thornton in front to Milo. He scores. Are you kidding me with that pass? Jonathan Chichu, one of the biggest one-h hit wonders in NHL history, is a microcosm of Thornton’s impact when he came over to the Sharks in a November 2005 trade. The Chichu train exploded for 49 goals in 58 games with his new centerman, finishing the season with a league best 56. We can do the same thing with an array of Thornton’s linemates. Where did Joe Pavvelski and Tomas Hurdle begin their careers? Often it was with Jumbo Joe. Who helped Danny Heatley lead the league in game-winning goals in 2010? Jumbo Joe. How did Kevin Leank have 56 points on a third line in the 2018-19 campaign? Marcus Sorenson, who was also centered by Jumbo Joe. Yeah, but what did that amount to? You might ask. You’re not exactly hearing it first, but Joe Thornton never won a Stanley Cup. According to John Tortoella, he never won anything. But here’s where you’re wrong, Torts. Joe Thornton knew how to command his teammates attention and respect better than any shark before him. 13 years after his arrival in San Jose, Jumbo and the Sharks were trailing 3-0 in a game seven against the Vegas Golden Knights, Joe Pavvelski had suffered a heinous concussion and after helping his captain to his feet, the 39-year-old veteran lit a fire under his team’s butts. Logan Couture recounted him saying, “You guys go out and effing get three goals right now.” He added, “When a man who’s played 20 years orders you around like that, bosses you around, you’ve got to go do it.” So, we got four. On the subject of four goals, fans will never forget Joe netting his first hattick in eight years against his original club, the Bruins. And he was so close to getting that fourth one, or as fans call it, the rooster trick. We can also point to his 400th career goal from earlier that year. His deflection with 7 seconds left in game four against the Flames to potentially save them from a 3-1 series deficit. And of course, this beauty to win the Sharks first ever playoff series against their rival, the LA Kings. Brings it back out far side. They score. Joe Thornton and the Sharks win the series in overtime. But with this being a jumbo spotlight, we have to come back to how he set his teammates up. He was a master at slowing the game down, often buying his time from behind the net or along the boards to produce the perfect scoring opportunity. He led the NHL in assists his first three years in teal and for a 10-year stretch with the Sharks, trailed only Alex Ovuchkin and Sydney Crosby in points. The only player to ever win a heart trophy after being traded mid-season is simply the greatest shark to ever lace him up, said longtime Sharks broadcaster Randy Han. There’s no question he is the iconic San Jose Shark. No one has affected the franchise in a more profound way than Joe Thornton. I mean that on the ice and off the ice. He gave San Jose a true superstar in the NHL. All right, Twisters. Now that we’re halfway through, let’s quickly look at four honorable mentions. This essentially functions as a second Rushmore. Joe Pavvelski is the first player I have to mention here. He captained the Sharks from 2015 to 19, leading them to the 16 cup final. Captain America scored 355 goals in 963 regular season games, but was among the most clutch performers in his era during the playoffs. Brent Burns was one of the top offensive defenseman in the 2010s. Three times he finished as a Norris Trophy finalist, winning it once in 2017, the same year he finished fourth for the heart. Owen Nolan is an early Sharks great just from these two goals alone. Nolan comes up with it. He’s got Lowry on his left. Owen tees it up from center and scores. Oh, and Nolan with a Buster scored 451 points in 568 regular season games with San Jose during the height of the dead puck era and he captained the team for 5 years. Lastly, Yavghi Nbakov is unquestionably the franchise’s greatest goalender. He won the 2001 Calder and five times finished in the top five for the VZNA. Plus, there’s this overtime save from 2008 against the Dallas Stars in an elimination game. Reboundman in front. Oh, a miraculous stop. That’s the save of the playoffs. Unfortunately for Nabi, Marty Turka was just as spectacular at the other end. All right, everybody. Now, we’re going to take a quick break. I’m going to talk about something I’m helping raise funds for. This is a hockey association in my state of Idaho here. It’s a small community. They don’t have a ton of crazy corporate sponsors. They need the help from their community and outside the community as well. I was very fortunate to meet their director and assistant uh director on their board and they’re very passionate about growing the sport of hockey in this small community. So, they’re raising funds in particular to pay for an ice chiller. It’s something that can run several hundred,000 and with the help of a new ice chiller, they’ll be able to have operations in the arena year round. So currently they have to close down during the summer. It’s often 100 to 110 degrees outside there in Lewon. And so kids need something to do when they can’t go outside and run around. And so that’s why they’ve been growing their hockey program out there for the past couple of decades. And it’s very important that they’re able to either buy or rent a new ice chiller. The one that they have right now is 37 years old and is constantly undergoing maintenance. So if you could please contribute any sort of amount, that would be amazing. Let me know down below if you end up donating. Just see the link in the pin comment down below or the video description. That’ll take you directly to their website. I’ll continue shouting them out because again, the sport of hockey, especially in my state of Idaho, does mean quite a lot to me, especially being able to introduce that to more kids, make equipment more affordable, and so their programs to do that are just magnificent. So anyway, see that link down in the pin comment or the video description and help out Lewon Hockey. Thanks for checking that out, Twisters. Now, let’s get back to our Mount Rushmore and spotlight the main architect of the Sharks best era, general manager Doug Wilson. Wilson came to the Sharks in year 1 as a 34-year-old defenseman with a Hall of Fame resume. He wasn’t able to have as much impact on the ice as he wanted due to numerous injuries, but nevertheless, he quickly earned the respect of his teammates as their first captain. In both of his seasons here, the Sharks selected him as their nominee for the NHL’s King Clansancy Memorial Trophy, honoring leadership and humanitarian work in hockey and in the community. Wilson returned to the Sharks in 97 as director of player development and in ‘ 03 ascended to general manager. While his decisions at the end of the 2010s have spiraled the Sharks into irrelevance for the better part of a decade, there’s no question that Doug Wilson’s vision and puts elevated San Jose into one of the NHL’s most consistently competitive teams. From his first season through 2019, the Sharks reached the playoffs all but once, including 10 years in a row, and they won 16 rounds. Sure, they earned their reputation as a choker after squandering a president’s trophy in the first round of ’09 and being reverse swept in 2014. But in the 2015 offseason, Wilson found just the way to support his longtime core, trading for goalender Martin Jones, signing role players like Paul Martin and Joel Ward, and hiring coach Peter Gabbor. These moves, coupled with the leadership from firstear captain Joe Pavvelski, helped fuel the Sharks to a surprising Western Conference Championship. But unlike the more surgical 2015-16 campaign, Doug Wilson’s tenure will largely be remembered for the magnitude of his trades, bringing in the likes of Dan Bole, Danny Heatley, Brent Burns, and although it backfired during his regime, Eric Carlson. Of course, his greatest trade was acquiring Thornton from the Bruins in exchange for a couple of core players in their prime. Former first rounders Marco Sturm and Brad Stewart to go with forward Wayne Primo. The deal quickly catapulted the Sharks to contender status and broke them from the young finding their stride franchise mold. As longtime Sharks executive, the late Wayne Thomas once said, he had the nerve to use the assets that Dean Lombardi built to make the Thornton trade. It was a pretty gutsy move. Doug was a fresh face at the GM level, a different voice. Wilson continued fortifying the Sharks longevity as a contender through not only trades but also drafting and development. He swung and missed on plenty of picks, but brought in talents who spent many productive years in teal. Logan Couture, Tomas Hurdle, and Teim Omire all in the first round, Mark Edward in the second round, and who could forget Pavvelski in the seventh round in addition to Justin Braun four years later. The same year Wilson rejoined the Sharks, Patrick Marlo was drafted and suited up in Teal. Marlo never erupted as a league superstar, but if you ask any fan which shark is most synonymous with the franchise, they’ll most likely say Patty. It’s not just because of his 1600 regular season games with San Jose either. It’s because of the way that he played those 1600 games. Well, at least most of them. The Sharks knew they had something special with Marlo shortly after drafting him second overall in 97. With intimidating speed and a sturdy build, he’d presented several challenges to defenders even just as a teenager. Teammate Mike Reachi reflected, “We’d have some talks that would reveal his confidence, but he would never let anyone else know it. That’s how Joey Sack was. I’d ask him, “Do you know how good you are?” He knew how good he was, but he didn’t feel the need to tell anybody. After emerging as a perennial 25 goal scorer, the young Marlo’s quiet confidence won over his teammates. He earned the team captaincy in ‘ 04 and continued to set the standard for the way he treated his body, the way he treated his teammates and management, and his on ice performances. During his prime years from 0506 to 201011, he averaged over 35 goals and 40 assists per 82game campaign on top of playing steady defensively. It was because of Marlo’s development and maturation that Doug Wilson identified the right opportunity for the right kind of player to join him. The environment cultivated by Thornton and Marlo helped young skaters like Joe Pavvelski and Logan Couture thrive and continued to want to see things through with that core group and as leaders themselves too. The same thing can be said even after Marlo left the Sharks in his late 30s to pursue a cup with the Maple Leafs. I can’t think of a more unique way to honor his legacy than when Austin Matthews revealed a Marlo jersey at the 2019 All-Star weekend in San Jose. Underneath his jersey is the jersey of his teammate, the longtime San Jose Patrick. I got to say, what a treat it was to be in the building that night. Patty returned to San Jose to finish his career as a Shark, surpassing Gordy How as the NHL’s all-time leader in games played. In his San Jose career, he set franchise records for goals with 522 and points with 1,111. It’ll be a long time until someone flirts with surpassing those numbers, too. And here’s Marlo with Pavvelski and a hattick for Patrick. Patrick Marlo, the natty Hattie for Patty. Like Thornton, Patrick Marlo couldn’t get the Sharks over the hump, but to see their careers from that lens is kind of short-sighted. They always had what it took to win. For one, they teamed up to help Canada win gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics, and Marlo did it a second time in 14. And just because they didn’t win a cup, it doesn’t mean they didn’t play a big role in defining the most prolific era of the 35-year franchise and for about a 15-ear span. After all, it’s their numbers that are hanging up in the Raptors in San Jose. And with that, we’ll close the book on this one. What’s your favorite Sharks memory? Which team should I make a Rushmore for next? Comment below. And don’t forget to support youth hockey in Idaho by clicking the link in the pin comment and contributing with a donation of any amount. Thanks so much for watching. I’m Nick and I’m excited to see you Twisters for the next one.

Here is my Mount Rushmore for my favorite NHL team, the San Jose Sharks. These are the 4 most important, influential, and iconic figures in the franchise’s 35-year history, and I’m not just limiting it to players; coaches, general managers, and even owners can qualify. Although the Sharks haven’t won a Stanley Cup yet, they have often been one of the most enjoyable, albeit heartbreaking, NHL teams to cheer for. This video will give you better insight to the franchise’s humble beginning and almost-glory days of the late 00s and 2010s. What’s your favorite San Jose Sharks moment? Comment below, and let me know which NHL team I should make a Mount Rushmore for next!

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Watch Next
• Every NHL Team’s Mount Rushmore https://youtu.be/8RNG33YRF9E
• Every NHL Team’s Most Iconic Moment https://youtu.be/IzMtXolpy88
• Every NHL Team’s Fiercest Rivals https://youtu.be/APbVUG3USSk

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