One on One with Kevin Kurz, San Jose Sharks writer for The Athletic

tiburon12 · May 7, 2020

Cool interview, thanks. @KKurzNHL, would love to discuss some thoughts I have:

Hearing the John Scott story in a little more detail now frustrates me more than it did before. What a grimey thing to do to share that private conversation with sharks players. He played here and knows that one of the strengths of the org is the way they stay out of the tabloid media. A real low, attention seeking, disrespectful move. I image a guy like Jumbo disapproves of him doing that. Can we his integrity (i.e. exaggerating some comments to get attention)?

I think you're right and what I expect to happen is that by next season, whenever that is, the Sharks have been adults and figured the locker room issues out. It's true, the team is no longer lead by modest, traditional hockey guys like Jumbo and Pavs and Vlasic and Ward and Martin; it's now lead by flashy stars like Karlsson, Kane, Meier, and to an extent, Couture.

Transitioning to that kind of leadership only really works when those flashy stars live up to their money, which neither did. Kane started the year by getting suspended, Meier had 4 points in his first 10 games, and Karlsson did not look great defensively at all (though that is also an indictment of Jones). On top of that, they had terrible goaltending from a guy being paid $5.75MM. Point being, big money players did not play up to their value at all, and since that didn't happen, they failed at effectively leading the team.

How much leash do we give Jones in the likely event that we are unable to improve goaltending? And if he plays to his ability, how long before he earns the team's and fan's trust? I've argued in other places that I think his terrible play, especially giving up goals at the beginning of games, was the biggest reason this team fell off the rails this year. Not only statistically was that true, but you could see the dejection and defeatism in the players after a bad goal. They couldn't play run and gun offense because Jones couldn't make a key save; they couldn't outscore their goaltending issues because their goaltending issued failed immediately, game after game.

Hope to get your thoughts, thanks