Today, writers at HockeyBuzz are looking at the biggest need for each NHL team.
For the San Jose Sharks, it’s pretty difficult to narrow it down to one specific need. Increased depth scoring could be an appropriate answer, as could an upgrade on the left side of the team’s defense group or potentially a top-six winger. But I’m going to say this: the Sharks need better goaltending.
I’m not going to say they need a better goaltender specifically, based on the fact that they did just acquire Devan Dubnyk and he deserves a chance. However, even if the Sharks implemented a more defensive structure and made improvements to their defense group, if the goaltending still wasn't there, it might not make that much of a difference.
Martin Jones has managed just an .896 save percentage over each of the last two seasons and while a good portion of that can be attributed to the team’s poor defense, it’s not like Jones would have a .920 save percentage if the Sharks were better structured defensively. Jones certainly can’t be the only player held responsible but he should take some of the blame. It says something that the team turned to Aaron Dell to take some of Jones’ workload last season and Dell was able to post a .907 save percentage.
The Sharks ranked fifth-worst in the league in goals against per game last season, despite giving up the 10th-fewest shots against per game. They did give up a high number of scoring chances but at the end of the day, you still need to be able to trust your goalie and unfortunately, I doubt there’s much trust in Jones’ ability as a starter at this point.
It’s certainly fair to go with a different answer here and the fact is, the Sharks have several pressing needs– but the one I’m going with is better goaltending.
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Do you think better goaltending is the Sharks' most pressing need?
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