The San Jose Sharks are ironically just 48 days away from their home opener against Tomas Hertl and the Vegas Golden Knights at the SAP Center. Hertl is undoubtedly the most well-known player to wear the number 48 for the team in teal, as he wore it for over a decade. Through 712 games with the Sharks, he totaled 484 points, 218 of which were goals. In March of 2024, his time in the Bay Area came to an end, though, as he was traded to Vegas with a first-round pick and David Edstrom coming back to San Jose, who would then use those assets to acquire goaltender Yaroslav Askarov. Although Hertl is the player most associated with the number 48 in San Jose, he was far from the first to wear it. Forward Alexi Yegorov first wore the number in 1996, only playing 11 games for the Sharks in his career. After a few seasons in the American Hockey League, he returned to Europe for the 1998-99 season before tragically passing away at the age of 26 in 2002. In between Yegorov and Hertl, Steven Zalewski briefly wore the number 48 in 2010 during a three-game stint with the Sharks before he returned to their AHL affiliate. The number 48 is still one of the most popular to see on the back of fans at the SAP Center, and given Hertl’s decade of service to the organization, that’s unlikely to change any time soon.
