NOTE: Hi everyone, I want to introduce myself. My name is Ben Shelley and I’ll be covering the San Jose Sharks for HockeyBuzz. I’ve been covering both the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders on this site for about a year now, so you can check out my writing there as well.
For those interested, you can also follow me on Twitter: @BenShelley_20
For the second year in a row, goaltending was a major issue for the San Jose Sharks. It wasn’t the only issue but it’s certainly an area of concern for the team going forward.
This year, the Sharks averaged the fifth-most goals against per game in the league, despite giving up just the 22nd-most shots. This was similar to last season, where they gave up the 11th most goals against, despite giving up the second-least number of shots per game in the NHL.
For the second year in a row, Martin Jones had a .896 save percentage, which is almost unheard of for a starter (because most wouldn't even keep a starter's job for another season with those numbers the previous year). He also had a goals saved above average of minus-15, which ranked 63rd of 66 goalies to play at least 10 games this season.
Dell, on the other hand, has just an .899 save percentage himself in 58 games between this year and last. That said, he had somewhat of a bounce-back year, playing far more games than what was expected of him. He got a stretch as the team’s starter and he was playing at a respectable level. Both goalies finished the season with a stronger 2020, with Dell at a .911 save percentage and Jones managing a .907 save percentage, but the consistency certainly isn’t there.
Truthfully, though Dell is a decent backup, he’s not going to be a solution as a long-term starter in San Jose. With Jones locked into contract for another four years, not many teams would be willing to take on his contract, so if the Sharks were to look for help in net, it’s likely Dell on his way out, not Jones. Plus, with Dell’s contract expiring and nearly $2 million coming off the books, It would probably be a good move for the Sharks to use that cap space to go after a low-cost reliable backup in free agency, like Anton Khudobin or Thomas Greiss. Either would be available on a short-term deal (likely two years) and could be had for probably around $3 million or a bit more.
Though the Sharks got stretches of decent goaltending this year, it’s simply not good enough to rely upon. While there are other areas to address as well, finding a solution in net needs to be at the top of the priority list for the offseason.
I also try to do a poll in every post, with results and discussion of the week’s worth of polls being posted each weekend. Here’s today’s poll question:
How confident do you feel in the Jones/Dell tandem to provide quality goaltending if they're both back with San Jose next season?
San Jose Sharks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»