In sports, a player often becomes synonymous with their jersey number, so one of the things I like about the beginning of the season is seeing what numbers new players on the team are going to wear. Will any Sharks player dare to wear 11? What about 18? That led me to think: if you had to assign one player in franchise history to each number, who would it be? Some numbers are obvious, but others don't exactly have a rich history. Thanks to the Sharks being a young franchise (younger than me!), it was fairly quick to find out all the players who had worn each number. Over the next few weeks, I'll go through number by number, 1-99. To remove any bias (or thinking) on my part, I'll simply list the player who has played the most games for the Sharks while wearing that number. I'll then point out other notable players to have worn that number in teal.
First up: numbers 1-10.
#1 - Thomas Greiss
Number 1 is the traditional number for goalies to wear, and, indeed, all of the players to wear this number were goalies. What is surprising, however, is the fact that there have only been 2 players (Brian Hayward was the other one) to wear #1 in Sharks history, and Greiss takes the top spot with only 45 games played. All the other Sharks goalies have preferred numbers in the 30s, which for some reason has become the go-to number range for goalies in the NHL.
#2 - Mike Rathje
The low single digits is usually reserved for defensemen in the NHL, so it is fitting that we start at #2 with the longest tenured defenseman in Sharks history, Mike Rathje. Rathje played so many games for the Sharks that he claims #2 despite having played 10 years for the Sharks wearing a different number - number 40. Other notable #2's (hee-hee) for the Sharks were Rob Zettler, who would go on to become an assistant coach for San Jose, and Bill Houlder, who scored just one fewer point than Rathje with #2 on his back despite playing in 56 fewer games.
#3 - Douglas Murray
The Swedish Grizzly Bear easily takes the top spot for #3. With 474 games logged, he has worn #3 more than all other players combined.
#4 - Kyle McLaren
Yellow visor wearer and hip check enthusiast Kyle McLaren has the most games played as #4 for the Sharks, but without question the best player to wear the number in teal was future hall of famer Rob Blake. Blake came to the Sharks after a great career with in-state rival Los Angeles, and even though it was the last two years of his career, he was still an effective player for the Sharks.
#5 - Rob Davison
Davison just edges out Jeff Norton for the #5 crown with 167 games played, to Norton's 165. Davison was a borderline NHL player, only once playing more than 60 games in a season. Jeff Norton, on the other hand, was a much more competent NHL player who had two different stints with the Sharks. The current #5 on the Sharks is Jason Demers, another borderline player, so Davison's title appears safe for the near future.
#6 - Sandis Ozolinsh
Here, at #6, we get our first taste of Sharks royalty. Ozolinsh was one of the Sharks first star players, and in his first full year on the team in 1993-94, helped the Sharks, who had gone 11-71-2 the previous year, to make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history and upset the top-seeded Detroit Red Wings in the first round, stunning the hockey world. Ozolinsh was then traded to the Colorado Avalanche for Owen Nolan, who would soon become the face of the franchise. Ozolinsh came back to the Sharks for a curtain call at the end of his career, but alas did not once again don #6, and opted for 24 instead.
#7 - Brad Stuart
Here we have Brad Stuart, who was a key member of the Sharks success at the turn of the millennium. He was then a key part of the trade that brought Joe Thornton to the Sharks from Boston. After 6 seasons away from the Sharks, Stuart has returned to don #7 in teal. With 482 games and counting, Stuart is years ahead of the next closest player, who has 122. That player, however, was Igor Larionov. Larionov, who was part of the famed KLM line for the Russian national team, was one of the early former Soviet stars to make the jump to the NHL, and was a major part of the Sharks mid '90s teams that made the playoffs before being traded to the ex-Soviet-laden Red Wings.
#8 - Joe Pavelski
The Big Pavelski is maybe my favorite player on the Sharks, and that's saying something because he is a former Wisconsin Badger. Pavelski has played his whole career in teal, and absolutely owns #8. The other notable #8 in Sharks history was the all-time great Teemu Selanne, who played 3 forgettable seasons in teal.
#9 - Milan Michalek
The Shark most associated with #9 is Milan Michalek. Michalek was a top 6 forward during the middle part of the 2000-2010 decade (the aughts?). He was the main piece in the trade that brought Dany Heatley to the Sharks from Ottawa, a trade that I wish had never happened. Other players to log a significant number of games wearing #9 were Adam Graves and Bernie Nicholls, both of whom came to the Sharks at the end of their careers. The current #9, Martin Havlat, will most likely never be healthy enough to challenge Michalek's hold on the #9 title. Number 9, number 9, number 9....
#10 - Marcus Ragnarsson
We end today with long-time Sharks defenseman Marcus Ragnarsson. Ragnarsson was part of the team when the Sharks first started to become one of the best teams in the NHL in the late '90s and early 2000s. Before Ragnarsson took over #10 in teal, it belonged to Johan Garpenlov, another key member, along with Ozolinsh and Larionov, of the mid-90s Sharks teams that surprised many people in the playoffs.
That's it for now. Stay tuned for next time, when we check out the star-heavy 11-20 group.
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