SAN JOSE – Although the San Jose Sharks have likely done all of their heavy lifting regarding free-agent additions, one possible spot left to fill before the start of training camp in September is adding a No. 3 goalie.
The Sharks have had at least five goalies under contract for the last two years under general manager Mike Grier. They entered this week, though, with only four on NHL deals: Mackenzie Blackwood, Vitek Vanecek, Magnus Chrona, and Georgi Romanov.
Barring any significant changes or injuries, Blackwood and Vanecek will start the season with the Sharks, and Chrona and Romanov will be assigned to the Barracuda.
What the Sharks lack is a third goalie with NHL experience, someone who can be recalled from the AHL on short notice without leaving the Barracuda shorthanded.
On July 1, Grier said the Sharks will “keep looking around, and we’ll address the No. 3 spot at some point here in the offseason.”
With that in mind, Martin Jones might be a good fit to return to San Jose.
Jones was the Sharks’ No. 1 goalie from 2015 to 2021, going 171-120-27, making him the franchise’s second-winningest goalie behind Evgeni Nabokov (293). He made 60 consecutive playoff starts between 2016 and 2019, and his .916 postseason save percentage leads all Sharks goalies who have appeared in at least five playoff games.
Between the regular season and playoffs, from the 2015-16 season to 2020-21, no goalie in the NHL played in more games (387) than Jones.
All of that work, though, took a toll. Jones’ play suffered, and his tenure with the Sharks ended poorly.
After their second-straight playoff-less season in 2021, the Sharks and then-general manager Doug Wilson bought out the final three years of Jones’ six-year $34.5 million contract. The deal will remain on the team’s books — at $1.666 million per season — until 2027.
Following his unceremonious departure from San Jose, Jones spent one season in both Philadelphia and Seattle. His numbers in each city, both traditional and advanced, were not great.
So why would Jones be a fit in San Jose as a No. 3 goalie?
He played the same role for the Toronto Maple Leafs last season, starting NHL games after an ankle injury kept Joseph Woll out of the lineup for close to three months and Ilya Samsonov’s form dropped off.
Jones worked steadily, going 11-7-1 with a respectable .907 save percentage in 20 games from early December to late February.
Last month, The Athletic reported that Jones might be open to a return to Toronto, which has Woll and Anthony Stolarz under contract for next season.
Like Toronto, San Jose offers free agents the fact that the NHL and AHL teams are in the same city. But if the rebuilding Sharks want Jones, they might have to pay him more than the $875,000 he earned with the Leafs last season. That’s not an issue, considering the team’s ample cap space.
Perhaps a reunion isn’t out of the question.
PAVELSKI’S RETIREMENT: Now that former Sharks captain Joe Pavelski’s retirement is official, it’s time to start considering whether his resume is enough to get him into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Our conclusion: Maybe one day, but not right when he becomes eligible in three years.
There are a few things to consider.
Pavelski, who turned 40 last week, never won a major individual award, but his name was often in the mix for the Selke and Lady Byng honors. He was an All-Star selection four times and was voted second-team All-NHL after a 41-goal season in 2013-14. Starting with the 2011-2012 season and ending after 2018-2019, Pavelski scored 252 goals, a total bettered by only Alex Ovechkin (357), Steven Stamkos (274), and John Tavares (266), and Patrick Kane (253) in that span.
The widely respected Pavelski won a Silver Medal with Team USA at the 2010 Olympics and is 71st on the NHL’s all-time list with 1,068 points. With a few exceptions, everyone ahead of him is either in the Hall of Fame or still active.
Joe Thornton, 14th on that list with 1,539 points, should get in next year in his first year of eligibility. Patrick Marleau (53rd, 1,197) might not be far behind.
If and when Marleau gets in, then the Pavelski Hall of Fame talk can begin, not before.
CALDER RACE: Despite being selected first overall in June, Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini is not a sure thing, nor a betting favorite, to win the Calder Trophy next season as the NHL’s rookie of the year.
Per DraftKings, Philadelphia Flyers forward Matvei Michkov is favored to win the Calder at +450, with Celebrini at +500. He’s followed by Dallas’ Logan Stankoven (+550), Anaheim’s Cutter Gauthier (+650), and Sharks forward Will Smith (+700).
Both Michkov and Celebrini figure to be top-six forwards and power-play mainstays this season. But with Michkov, one has to wonder how he’ll work under Flyers coach John Tortorella. What happens when Michkov doesn’t battle hard enough for a puck down low or race out to the point fast enough to get in the way of a shot? Will that affect Michkov’s ice time or his feelings toward the coach?
Something to watch.
MORE EX-SHARKS: A report out of Czechia this week speculated that Filip Zadina, who has not signed a contract with an NHL team, might be headed back to his home country to play for his dad, Marek, with Dynamo Pardubice. Zadina, 24, had 13 goals and 23 points in 72 games for the Sharks last season.
He’s not the only former Shark still looking for work, with forwards Kevin Labanc, Mike Hoffman, Alexander Barabanov, Ryan Carpenter, Nikolai Knyzhov, and Calen Addison still on that list three weeks after free agency began.
