*** Please Note - Due to tech issues on the site over the last 24 hours. This article was originally from Yesterday by William Espy (Aug 31). **** 

We’re just 40 days away from the San Jose Sharks hosting the Vegas Golden Knights to kick off the 2025-26 season at the SAP Center.

In honor of that, let’s take a look at the long history of the number 40 for the Sharks. The history of the number 40 dates back to the Sharks’ inaugural season, the 1991-92 season.

Mikhail Kravets made his NHL debut that season, playing a single game for the Sharks. He made his only other NHL appearance the following season. He’d go on to spend quite a bit of time as a regular in the International Hockey League and ECHL before returning to Russia and calling it a career following the 2002-03 season.

Today, Kravets is the head coach of Barys Astanain the Russian Kontinental Hockey League. During the 1992-93 season, Kravets wasn’t the only one to wear the number 40 as Mark Beaufait also wore it for five games and scored his only career NHL goal. Similar to Kravets, Beaufait was a regular in the IHL until he made the jump to the German DEL for the 2002-03 season. He’d remain with Eisbaren Berlin until the end of the 2008-09 season when he called it quits.

Mike Rathje took over the number during the 1993-94 season, and has been by far the longest tenured number 40 in franchise history. The defenseman wore the number for the majority of his tenure with the Sharks, before changing to the number two for the 2001-02 season. Rathje spent a total of 671 games as a member of the Sharks, recording 155 points and 439 penalty minutes during that span. Rathje would ultimately finish his career as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Riley Armstrong would be the next player to wear the number 40 in two games during the 2008-09 season, the only two NHL appearances in his career. Since his retirement, Armstrong has been heavily involved with the Philadelphia Flyers organization and is currently a coach for the Philadelphia Jr. Flyers.

Kent Huskins would take the number over the following season, and wore it for two campaigns with the team in teal. During his time in the Bay Area, Huskins appeared in 132 games and tallied a total of 32 points in that span. Since retiring, Huskins has spent time with the Anaheim Ducks organization as a pro scout.

Ryan Carpenter would take over the number 40 during his first stint with the Sharks. He made his debut during the 2015-16 season and had intermittent appearances over the next couple of seasons. He returned to the Sharks during the 2023-24 season. Currently, he is the captain of the Anaheim Ducks’ American Hockey League affiliate, the San Diego Gulls.

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Center Antti Suomela would be next in line to wear the number 40, using it during staggered appearances between 2019 and 2021. Ultimately, he struggled to find a regular spot in the lineup, playing only 51 games across three seasons and chipping in 15 points in the process. Suomela would eventually be traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for forward

Alexander Barabanov. After a season with their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, he returned to Europe. For the last few seasons, he has been a member of Lusanne HC in the Swiss National League where he will play again this fall.

Journeyman goaltender Devan Dubnyk would make his way to San Jose for the 2020-21 season, and played 17 games with the number 40 on his back. Dubnyk didn’t have a long stint in the Bay Area, and retired shortly after his time in San Jose. Now, Dubnyk runs a goaltender mentoring program called Dubnyk Development.Jacob Peterson briefly wore the number 40 during the 2022-23 season, before changing to the number 24 for his final campaign with the Sharks. He played just 17 games during his time in the Bay Area and returned to Sweden ahead of the 2024-25 season. This coming season, he’ll take the ice for Frolunda HC in the Swedish Hockey League.

Lastly, the most recent player to wear the number 40 was Alexandar Georgiev. When the Sharks traded MacKenzie Blackwood to the Colorado Avalanche, they acquired Georgiev in an attempt to rebuild his value. Unfortunately, that experiment never worked as planned and he struggled during his time in the Bay Area.

Currently Georgiev is still an unrestricted free agent and his future is uncertain. He’s shown promise in the NHL before, but given his struggles in both Colorado and San Jose, it seems unlikely that he gets another chance in the NHL any time soon. The number 40 certainly has a long history, but it’s certainly not an illustrious one. It’s unknown when we’ll see the number 40 take the ice for the Sharks again, but it’s hard to imagine that it will be long before we see the 11th player don the number.

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