The Cleveland Barons were a mediocre hockey team in the 1970s. Originally, they were the California Golden Seals, who came into the NHL in 1967. Midway through their first season, the team was renamed the Oakland Seals.

Prior to the 1976-77 season, the Seals moved to Cleveland and became the Barons, where they played for the 76-77 and 77-78 seasons. They still sucked, but at least their uniforms were nicer. After the 77-78 season, they merged with the Minnesota North Stars.

As of the 2001-2002 season, the Cleveland Barons are back again, this time as an AHL affiliate of the San Jose Sharks. At the close of the 2000-2001 season, San Jose purchased the rights to their Lexington, Kentucky affiliates the Lexington Thoroughblades, citing the franchise's financial problems and declining attendance. Prior to being moved, the Thoroughblades were one of the top teams in the AHL- winning back-to-back division championships in 2000 and 2001. Unfortunately, disputes with Lexington's Rupp Arena and declining attendance (due to rising ticket prices and a period of poor performance from the team) led the Sharks to relocate the franchise to Cleveland. The new Baron's logo- a shark in top hat, jacket, and monacle wielding a hockey stick- is a reminder of the Baron's current NHL affiliate, but bears little resemblance to the Baron's logo of the 1970's (a large red C bearing the words 'Cleveland Barons' surrounding a red, vaguely shield shaped image of the state of Ohio with a script 'B' in its center). San Jose is known for having a strong minor league system, producing fine goalies like Evgeni Nabokov, Miikka Kipprusoff, and Vesa Toskala, and players like Jonathan Cheechoo and Jeff Jillson- many of whom played in the Barons/Thoroughblades system.

Team Info:
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
Established: June, 2001
Arena: Gund Arena
League: AHL
Conference: Western
Division: Central