Getting your questions ready
Getting your questions ready
Beat the crowd
10 questions No timer
50 free San Jose Sharks trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The San Jose Sharks were born when the owners of the Minnesota North Stars swapped that team for a Bay Area expansion franchise, and the name only won because 'Blades' sounded too much like a weapon. This Sharks trivia quiz covers all of it: the Cow Palace years, the NHL-record 71 losses, the 58-point jump that followed, Jamie Baker's Game 7 winner in Detroit, Owen Nolan, Evgeni Nabokov's Calder, the Joe Thornton trade and his Hart Trophy season, Jonathan Cheechoo's 56 goals, the 2009 Presidents' Trophy and the first-round flop that followed. It then follows the Setoguchi comeback against the Kings, the Burns and Karlsson blockbusters, the 2016 run to the Final under Peter DeBoer, the five-minute major against Vegas in 2019, Patrick Marleau's retired 12, Mike Grier's hiring, Karlsson's 101-point Norris season and Macklin Celebrini breaking Thornton's franchise scoring record. There are questions on S. J. Sharkie, the Red Triangle logo, the Shark Tank and the Golden Seals too. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedic and reference sources before publishing, and each question carries a citation. For more, try our NHL trivia and hockey trivia pages.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Gund brothers sold which team and received an expansion franchise, creating the Sharks?
Minnesota North Stars
They were even allowed to take a set number of North Stars players to San Jose.
Q 02Which name finished first in the fan mail-in vote but was rejected over its association with weapons?
Blades
Runner-up 'Sharks' nodded to the seven species in the nearby Pacific.
Q 03Which Bay Area team, later moved to Cleveland, was the region's last NHL club before the Sharks?
California Golden Seals
They played from 1967 to 1976; a Seals-inspired Reverse Retro jersey appeared in 2022.
Q 04Where did the Sharks play their first two seasons before the San Jose Arena opened?
The Cow Palace
It sits in Daly City, just outside San Francisco.
Q 05Which former Norris Trophy defenseman was the Sharks' first captain and later their general manager?
Doug Wilson
He arrived from Chicago days before the first season and ran the front office from 2003 to 2022.
Q 06How many games did the Sharks lose in 1992-93, still an NHL record?
71
They also endured a then-record 17-game losing streak and won just 11 times.
Q 07Despite finishing last, the early Sharks led the NHL in what off the ice?
Merchandise sales
Their $150 million was 27% of the league total, trailing only the Chicago Bulls in North America.
Q 08How did mascot S. J. Sharkie make his unnamed debut in January 1992?
Emerging from a Zamboni
A 'Name the Mascot' contest started that night.
Q 09By how many points did the Sharks improve in 1993-94, an NHL record?
58
Kevin Constantine coached them to 82 points and a first playoff berth.
Q 10Who scored the Game 7 winner at Joe Louis Arena in 1994 as the eighth-seeded Sharks stunned Detroit?
Jamie Baker
It was the first time an eighth seed beat a first seed in North American pro sports.
Q 11Which defenseman was traded to Colorado for Owen Nolan in 1995-96?
Sandis Ozolinsh
Nolan later captained the club until his 2003 trade to Toronto.
Q 12Whom did the Sharks select second overall in the 1997 draft?
Patrick Marleau
His No. 12 became the first number retired by the franchise in 2023.
Q 13Which Kazakh goalie won the Calder Trophy for San Jose in 2000-01?
Evgeni Nabokov
He had been drafted in 1994 and stayed ten seasons.
Q 14Which three players went to Boston in the 2005 blockbuster that brought Jumbo Joe to San Jose?
Q 21Which All-Star defenseman came from Minnesota in 2011 for Setoguchi, Charlie Coyle and a first-rounder?
Brent Burns
Dany Heatley went to the Wild for Martin Havlat in a second deal that summer.
Q 22In 2014 the Sharks became only the fourth NHL team to lose a series after leading 3-0, to whom?
Los Angeles Kings
LA won Game 7 5-1 and went on to win the Cup.
Q 23Which 49ers home hosted the Sharks' 2015 outdoor game, a 2-1 loss to Los Angeles?
Levi's Stadium
They missed the playoffs that year for the first time in a decade.
Brad Stuart, Wayne Primeau and Marco Sturm
Thornton won the Hart and Art Ross that same season, split between two teams.
Q 15Which Shark won the Rocket Richard Trophy with 56 goals in 2005-06?
Jonathan Cheechoo
Most of them came on Thornton's wing.
Q 16Which eighth seed knocked out the Presidents' Trophy-winning Sharks in the 2009 first round?
Anaheim Ducks
San Jose had set franchise records with 53 wins and 117 points.
Q 17Which veteran rejoined the NHL with San Jose in 2008-09 after a five-year absence?
Claude Lemieux
He retired again after that season.
Q 18Whom did the Sharks name captain in 2009 after stripping the 'C' from their 1997 second-overall pick?
Rob Blake
Heatley arrived that summer for Milan Michalek and Jonathan Cheechoo.
Q 19Which Cup-winning Blackhawks goalie signed with San Jose in September 2010?
Antti Niemi
Nabokov was not re-signed after ten seasons.
Q 20Whose overtime goal capped the 2011 Game 3 comeback from 4-0 down against Los Angeles?
Devin Setoguchi
Five second-period goals tied the second-biggest comeback in playoff history; Thornton won the series in OT.
Q 24Which coach, hired in 2015, took San Jose to its first Stanley Cup Final the next spring?
Peter DeBoer
Joe Pavelski was named captain the same summer.
Q 25Which goalie, flipped from Boston via the Kings, backstopped the 2016 run to the Final?
Martin Jones
Pittsburgh won the Final in six.
Q 26Which team beat the Sharks in the 2016 Stanley Cup Final?
Pittsburgh Penguins
San Jose beat the Kings, Predators and Blues to get there.
Q 27Which team did the Sharks' longtime No. 12 leave for in 2017 before being reacquired in 2019?
Toronto Maple Leafs
Erik Karlsson arrived from Ottawa in 2018.
Q 28Who scored the 2019 Game 7 overtime winner against Vegas after a controversial power play?
Barclay Goodrow
San Jose scored four goals on the major with eight minutes left.
Q 29Which forward's contract was terminated in 2022 after he violated AHL COVID-19 protocol?
Evander Kane
He was later signed by Edmonton and settled a grievance with the Sharks.
Q 30Mike Grier, hired in July 2022, made history as the NHL's first what?
Black general manager
He is the fifth general manager in franchise history.