San Jose Sharks: Martin Jones’ improvement is crucial for team success

The San Jose Sharks will be counting on a bounce-back season from goalie Martin Jones if they are to find success in the 2019-20 NHL season.

The San Jose Sharks once again finished just short of the promised land as the annual playoff contenders fell to the eventual-champion St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference Finals.

This, of course, came on the heels of a very successful season that saw the team finish second in the conference with 101 points — their most since the 2013-14 season. But unfortunately, the Sharks just couldn’t finish the job in the postseason.

Perhaps a lot of this could be blamed on injuries, particularly in the team’s final series against the Blues. But the fact that they were even at that point, to begin with, was something of a miracle.

Of course, we’re talking about the thrilling comeback in the Vegas Golden Knights series that seemed like something out of a movie. Heck, even the Colorado Avalanche series went seven games as the Sharks narrowly avoided elimination.

But while the Sharks hosted a high-powered offense and a flashy defense, it was ultimately the goaltending that let the team down.

At times, Martin Jones was everything the Sharks wanted him to be and more in the postseason. The team’s Game 6 victory over Vegas comes to mind immediately. Unfortunately, Jones was ultimately too inconsistent for the team to find sustained success.

He doesn’t deserve all of the blame for San Jose’s shortcomings in the postseason, but his lackluster play all year definitely cost the team at points.

Jones finished with the worst save percentage of his career — a dreadful .896% rate that ranked among the worst in the NHL. In fact, only Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings finished with a worse save rate out of goalies with at least 40 starts.

Perhaps the worst stat came with his goals saved above average — a stat used as a modifier for save percentage and shots faced as compared to the league average. Jones’ -22.87 GSAA ranked worst out of all goalies with 50 or more starts and it wasn’t even close.

In fact, the worst GSAA out of goalies with at least 50 starts that wasn’t Jones was Edmonton’s Mikko Koskinen whose -6.21 GSAA was only slightly below average.

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So not only was Jones bad, but he played quite a bit more than most goalies in the league.

Much of that was due to the lackluster play of his backup, Aaron Dell, who didn’t fare much better in the same circumstances. And if the Sharks are going to return to the Stanley Cup next season — and perhaps even win one — they’ll need more success from Jones in net.

Fortunately, there’s reason to be optimistic.

The Sharks deployed a new defensive system last season and their high-octane style of offense was exciting but it led to plenty of two-on-one opportunities down on the other end of the ice.

And it’s safe to say that the team’s blueliners didn’t perform as well as they should have last year.

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With the return of coaching assistant Bob Boughner, the issues that plagued the Sharks defense last season will hopefully be cleaned up. That, in turn, should help Jones rebound nicely.

After all, Jones has been a relatively reliable goalie over his previous three seasons as the Sharks’ netminder so it’s reasonable to hope for an improved 2019-20 campaign.

And if the Sharks are going to have success next season, they’re sure going to need some improved play from their starting goalie.