Best Sharks Picture This Year? Photographer Dean Tait Shares His Favorites

It was a forgettable season for the San Jose Sharks, but once again, it was an unforgettable season for San Jose Hockey Now photographer Dean Tait.

Also known as Hockey Shots, Dean has been shooting Sharks and San Jose Barracuda games for SJHN for the last two years.

Hockey Shots also shoots youth sports teams all over the Bay Area, taking team and individual and live action pictures.

Simply put, Dean is the best. See for yourself — I asked Dean to pick his 10 favorite San Jose Sharks pictures from the 2023-24 campaign.

FYI, in a typical game, Dean takes about a thousand pictures a period. He’ll post about 20 of those in a shared album that I can choose from. So in total, Dean will shoot about 3,000 photos a game, and after some careful consideration, settle on about 60-80 for our album.

Here is Dean’s top-1o this year, in chronological order, with his comments.

10/14/23 vs. Colorado Avalanche

Oct 14, 2023; San Jose, CA, USA; during Home game vs Colorado Avalanche at SAP Center. Photo: Hockey Shots/Dean Tait

Dean: “Bordeleau scored for the San Jose Sharks before the midway point of the 1st period. Avalanche were outshooting the Sharks [by double] but, they could not get anything past Blackwood, who was standing on his head. This shot is in the 3rd period after Blackwood had made a save on Lehkonen (62). Lehkonen’s face reflects the frustration felt by his whole team.”

11/2/23 vs. Vancouver Canucks

Nov 02, 2023; San Jose, CA, USA; during Home game vs Vancouver Canucks at SAP Center. Photo: Hockey Shots/Dean Tait

Dean: “Sturm (7) — one of my favorite Sharks players to photograph this season — took a double-minor for high-sticking in the first minute of the game. This would account for four of his total 13 minutes of penalties all season. This image was taken as he skated back to the bench after Boeser scored on the power play and shows how much Sturm cares about letting his team down. Little did Sturm know that Vancouver would go on to score 10 goals in this game.”

Nov 02, 2023; San Jose, CA, USA; during Home game vs Vancouver Canucks at SAP Center. Photo: Hockey Shots/Dean Tait

Dean: “Kahkonen started the game and mid-way through the 2nd period, Vancouver’s Kuzmenko scored the 6th goal of the game for Vancouver and accidentally clipped Kahkonen in the head. Instead of celebrating the goal, Kuzmenko immediately went back to check on Kahkonen. The Sharks players had already skated back to the bench, while four Vancouver skaters began motioning for Sharks trainer Ray Tufts to come to Kahkonen’s aid.”

11/4/23 vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

Nov 04, 2023; San Jose, CA, USA; during Home game vs Pittsburgh Penguins at SAP Center. Photo: Hockey Shots/Dean Tait

Dean: “Pittsburgh’s Malkin trips Granlund (64), but as he goes down Granlund manages to get a shot off while in mid-air before crashing to the ice.”

11/16/23 vs. St. Louis Blues

Nov 16, 2023; San Jose, CA, USA; during Home game vs St. Louis Blues at SAP Center. Photo: Hockey Shots/Dean Tait

Dean: “After only 2 wins in 16 games and both by only 1 goal, the San Jose Sharks cruise to a 5-1 win over St. Louis. With the Sharks up by 2 goals in the 2nd period, Smith (54) scored his first goal and celebrates with linemates Kunin (11) and Carpenter (22). It was a breath of fresh air for this blue collar line.”

11/27/23 vs. Washington Capitals

Nov 27, 2023; San Jose, CA, USA; during Home game vs Washington Capitals at SAP Center. Photo: Hockey Shots/Dean Tait

Dean: “This picture was taken in the 2nd period when the Sharks were up by 1 goal and Washington was outshooting the Sharks. The Sharks had lost over 80% of their games at this point in the season but these 2 fans were not dissuaded.”

2/29/24 vs. Anaheim Ducks

Feb 29, 2024; San Jose, CA, USA; during Home game vs Anaheim Ducks at SAP Center. Photo: Hockey Shots/Dean Tait

Dean: “The season was basically over for the Sharks who were racing to the bottom for the #1 pick in the 2024 Draft. After Eklund scored a power play goal to tie the game at 3, Zetterlund (20) and Granlund (64) made there way back to the bench around the back of the net sharing a laugh. This image shows that in adversity, this group still liked and supported each other.”

3/9/24 vs. Ottawa Senators

Mar 09, 2024; San Jose, CA, USA; during Home game vs Ottawa Senators at SAP Center. Photo: Hockey Shots/Dean Tait

Dean: “Final few seconds with the goalie pulled, I was a long way away from this play shooting from a hole at the other end of the rink. I zoomed in as much as I could to capture the faces as Sturm (7) sent a puck towards the empty net. It did not go in but, this was the final play of the game with Tkachuk (7) looking on in horror as the Sharks win only their 16th game of the season.”

3/23/24 vs. Chicago Blackhawks

Mar 23, 2024; San Jose, CA, USA; during Home game vs Chicago Blackhawks at SAP Center. Photo: Hockey Shots/Dean Tait

Dean: “A game between the two teams racing to the bottom for a chance at the #1 draft pick in June. After a whistle, it looked like there was going to be a tussle between Kaiser (44) and Bordeleau (17), so I kept my lens trained on them while linesman Hughes (65) raced in from the blueline to keep the peace. In fact, Kaiser and Bordeleau — teammates on Team USA at the World Juniors in 2022 — were just having a little fun while catching up.”

4/6/24 vs. Blues

Apr 06, 2024; San Jose, CA, USA; during Home game vs St Louis Blues at SAP Center. Photo: Hockey Shots/Dean Tait

Dean: “A game of firsts! First NHL game for Graf, first NHL win for Cooley, and first NHL hat trick for Eklund (72). To top it off it was the straw hat giveaway game, so Eklund put on one of the straw hats thrown to the ice.”