Goaltending has been a problem for the San Jose Sharks over the last two seasons. Martin Jones, who was regarded as a quality starter a few years ago, posted an .896 save percentage this year and just about lost the starter’s job to Aaron Dell. Heading into next season, a major question will be whether or not Jones can bounce back.
The Sharks did lose Justin Braun in the offseason which certainly weakened their defense this year but it’s not like Jones had an excellent 2018-19 season either. He posted the same .896 save percentage a season ago and while he normally excels in the playoffs and did have some outstanding performances, Jones had just an .898 save percentage in the Sharks’ deep playoff run in 2019.
With Jones, I draw parallels to Jake Allen in St. Louis. Allen has shown he can be a quality starter and perform well at key times but hasn’t been able to do it consistently. It’s frustrating because we’ve seen what Jones can do when he’s at his best. In 40 playoff games between 2015-16 and 2017-18, Jones had an outstanding .926 save percentage and did it while facing tough competition.
If Jones is able to bounce back, he’s still not likely to return to form as a quality starter. In his five seasons as a starter in San Jose, he’s only managed a positive goals saved above average in two of those seasons. He had a great first year with the Sharks in 2015-16 which helped the team get to the Stanley Cup Finals and a strong 2017-18 as well but we haven't seen consistency from him in the last couple seasons.
I’ve said that the Sharks need a solution in net but even if San Jose was to add someone in the offseason to share the load in net, Jones isn’t going anywhere and needs to find a way to bounce back. However, considering San Jose’s defense is even weaker now with the loss of Brenden Dillon and the Sharks are still lacking cap space to add to their defense, it’s not going to make things easier on Jones heading into next season. I’d say if Jones was even able to get close to a .910 save percentage next season, that would be a win for San Jose.
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Here's today's poll question (results and discussion will be posted tomorrow):
What do you predict Martin Jones' save percentage will be next season?
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