In a big whoopsie moment, the San Jose Sharks tried to rewrite hockey history earlier this week.
The Sharks reprinted and rearranged their banners at SAP Center, and eagle-eyed fans noticed that one banner in the rafters was incorrectly claiming that the team had won the 2015-16 Presidents’ Trophy.
Bay Area Sports’ Curtis Pashelka posted photos to X ahead of the team’s preseason opener against the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday, noting how the team consolidated its division titles into a single banner. The Presidents’ Trophy banner in question hangs directly to the right of the one displaying the team’s division championships.
“? That President’s Trophy Banner is….false? They only won it in ’09. Oops!” one fan replied.
“Isn’t the President Trophy one wrong? They won it in 2008?” another questioned.
“President’s Trophy in 2016? Wasn’t it the Capitals?” a very correct X user relayed.
The Sharks finished well off the league-lead pace during the 2015-16 campaign, ending the year 11th in the NHL standings with 98 points. The actual winners of that year’s Presidents’ Trophy, awarded annually since 1985-86 to the highest point-earning squad, were the Barry Trotz-led Washington Capitals (120 points).
The trophy was the Capitals’ second in franchise history, having claimed it once previously under head coach Bruce Boudreau during the 2009-10 campaign. They would repeat as Presidents’ Trophy champions the next year, putting them in a tie with the Colorado Avalanche for third-most regular-season championships in NHL history.
After the social media alarm was raised, Sharks president Jonathan Becher cleared the air Monday and explained that the incorrect banner was just a printing error, per ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski.
The banner was supposed to honor the 2008-09 Sharks team that did win the franchise’s only Presidents’ Trophy, finishing with 117 standings points. Instead, the 2015-16 season from the Sharks’ lone appearance in the Stanley Cup Final was erroneously added.
San Jose’s 2015-16 Western Conference champions banner sits directly next to the incorrect Presidents’ Trophy banner, likely explaining the mistake.
The 2015-16 Capitals ultimately weren’t able to capture any other silverware as they fell in the second round of the playoffs to the eventual champion Pittsburgh Penguins. However, the campaign remained full of personal milestones for captain Alex Ovechkin, who led the team and league with 50 goals, earning his sixth Rocket Richard Trophy (and fourth consecutive).
Ovechkin also became the highest goal-scoring Russian in NHL history with his 484th career tally and became the fifth-fastest player in league history to score 500 goals.
