What does Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones think about the NHL rule requiring one player from every team to participate in the All-Star Game?
“That’s probably why I got nominated this year,” he responded.
Indeed, Jones has no disillusions about why he’s headed to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on Feb. 3-4 for his fifth career All-Star appearance. It’s simply because someone from the last-place Hawks had to go.
But for the record, he does understand the logic behind the rule, even if it does lead to many deserving players not receiving invites.
“Before this rule happened, the whole starting lineup was Hawks, including [Corey] Crawford in net, for the West [in 2015],” Jones said. “So you could have situations still like that. Say Colorado, you could easily have [Mikko] Rantanen, [Nathan] MacKinnon and [Cale] Makar. It depends. Some guys are going to get the short end of the stick every year.”
Jones will join Makar, Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey, Stars forward Jason Robertson, Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov, Coyotes forward Clayton Keller, Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko and Predators goalie Juuse Saros on this year’s Central Division All-Star team, announced Thursday.
Three additional players in each division will be determined by fan vote in the coming weeks — but inevitably, there will be some snubs.
Predators defenseman Roman Josi is objectively more deserving than Jones, for example, but Saros’ selection excluded him. Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl has almost twice as many points as Ducks All-Star forward Troy Terry (60 vs. 32), but Connor McDavid was obviously chosen over him.
On the other hand, the NHL’s diverse selection process ensures all fans headed to the All-Star weekend festivities — hosted by the Panthers this winter — have someone to root for. There are pros and cons.
“It’s always a fun time,” Jones said. “You play three-on-three hockey in front of a good crowd and showcase your skill.”
Jones hinted he would’ve had more fun if his vacation during the preceding week — the Hawks’ bye week — hadn’t been “cut short” by his sudden commitments in Florida, but he will be a good sport about it.
He won’t use this hollow selection to hype himself up, though. He remained as self-critical as usual when evaluating on Friday his season so far.
“It has been up and down,” he said. “Offensively, I don’t like the numbers I have. And then it has been a struggle defensively, as a team in general, keeping the puck out of our net. ... We haven’t gotten a lot of ‘O’-zone time this year as a team, so [I’m focusing on] just taking advantage of when I do have that time.”
Hawks coach Luke Richardson has noticed Jones’ attitude.
“He’s probably disappointed more than anybody,” Richardson said. “I talked to him [Thursday] and just said, ‘Hey, it’s looking up. You scored last game.’”
Jones entered Friday ranked 13th among NHL defensemen in ice time, averaging 24:41 per game, but his results have been poor. Not only does he rank 85th in points per minute but his 41.1% scoring-chance ratio (at five-on-five) ranks 172nd out of 185 defensemen total.
That’s much more of a Hawks problem than a Jones problem — just like his All-Star selection was much more because of his teammates’ mediocrity than his excellence. But both are realities nonetheless.
“He’s such a good skater that he can join a rush later on [rather] than early on,” Richardson said. “[But] then we turn the puck over, and he’s scrambling back and now he’s tired. If he does that for 27 minutes...that’s a lot. That affects his game. We just want to bring him back.
“He can’t be the savior for everybody on this team. He’s just got to play his position, play it well, and we’ve got to do our job around him.”
