The San Jose Sharks will embark on their 25th season in the National Hockey League (NHL) when hockey resumes this October. There have been plenty of highs and lows throughout the years, and also many great players to don the teal and white for San Jose.
In looking back over the 25 years, we thought we’d take a look at who would constitute and make up the Sharks franchise Mount Rushmore, a feat that all sports fans enjoy debating about.
Last week, John Buccigross of ESPN released an updated version of his Mount Rushmore of all 30 NHL teams. Buccigross had done this same exercise five years earlier and was updating his ratings.
In his updated version, Buccigross had Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Evgeni Nabokov and Joe Pavelski as the four best San Jose Sharks throughout the organization’s history. Pavelski was the lone new member of the four this go round, replacing Owen Nolan.
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The first three names on the list are no-brainers as Marleau and Thornton hold just about every offensive record in franchise history, while Nabokov holds many of the goaltending ones.
Marleau is the franchise leader in goals (456), points (988), game-winning goals (87) and games played (1,329). He was San Jose’s first-round pick (number two overall) in the 1997 NHL Draft and has played every single game of his NHL career with the Sharks. He will always be linked with the franchise and will be hard to ever knock off this list.
Thornton has put up some staggering numbers during his tenure in teal, ranking first in assists (616), plus/minus (plus-149), while ranking second in points and games played. He has been the best player every year that he has been a member of the San Jose Sharks.
Nabokov, a fan favorite in every regard, overcame long odds to lead the Sharks in many goaltending categories. Nabokov is the franchise leader in games played by a goaltender (563), wins (293), and shutouts (50). Nabby, as he came to be known by Sharks fans everywhere, was the ultimate competitor who gave the fans plenty to stand up and cheer about.
The final spot is one where I disagree with Buccigross as I would still keep Nolan on the list. Nolan was the epitome of a power forward, and he captained the Sharks to some of the most memorable moments in the franchise’s history.
Nolan led San Jose to a historic first-round playoff upset of the St. Louis Blues in 2000, when he scored on Roman Turek from center-ice as the number-one seeded Sharks would down the top-seeded, and President’s Trophy, winning Blues. Also, who could forget his hat trick during the 1997 All-Star Game in San Jose where he called his shot on Dominik Hasek for his third goal of the game.
Both of these are priceless moments, but the one that probably endears himself most in the minds of the fans of the San Jose Sharks is when Nolan ran Dallas Stars goalie Ed Belfour during the 1997-98 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Nolan ranks third all-time in goals (206), fourth in assists (245) and fourth in points (451), but he played a big role in developing the identity of the Sharks as a playoff mainstay.
Pavelski is close to Nolan, surpassing him in many of the offensive categories, but it’s tough to overlook what Nolan did in helping put San Jose on the map. Pavelski will likely surpass Nolan in my Mount Rushmore at some point in time, but for right now, I’ve got to give the slight edge to Nolan.
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