The San Jose Sharks are a professional North American ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL). The team plays in the Pacific division of the NHL’s Western Conference. The Sharks were founded in 1991 and became the first NHL team in the San Francisco Bay Area since the California Golden Seals relocated in 1976. The Sharks have had a lot of regular season success as a franchise, especially between 2001 and 2011 when they won six division titles. They also won the Presidents’ Trophy (awarded to the team with the most points in the league) in 2008-2009. The Sharks made their first and only trip to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2016 before losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Sharks play their home games at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. The arena has become known as “The Shark Tank” and has one of the best home crowds in the NHL. The Sharks have had five former players inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame, but none of the players had a tenure longer than three years with the team. They have also retired no jersey numbers except for Wayne Gretzky’s number 99 which was league mandated in 2000.