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Seth Jones: Already Very Good and Still Improving

August 29, 2016, 12:31 PM ET [12 Comments]
Paul Berthelot
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
I've written quite a bit about Seth Jones this off-season, and how great a player he has been. Whether it be about his contract or his great passing ability, Jones has been a common topic to discuss. And why wouldn’t he be? The Jackets had very little turnover this season and with the exception of Sam Gagner and a couple of prospects this team is going to look the exact same as last year. Jones is still relatively new to the organization, and I for one am very excited to see what he can do over a full season with the Blue Jackets.

Carolyn Wilke (@Classlicity) has been posting some awesome visuals on her Twitter and I want to show the ones relating to the Jackets. I think they are a great way to show statistical information and they make Seth Jones look great which is never a bad thing.




What this graph is showing is a player’s possession stats (Corsi) vs. their relative zone starts compared to the average pairing. So for example Justin Falk played on the third pair, he has been compared to other third pair players, as opposed to all defencemen.

This chart really outlines the issues the Jackets had last season. They had an average forward group average forward group and a not a good defensive group. Combine that with suspect goaltending and you can see why the team finished fourth last in the league. Jack Johnson and David Savard to the surprise of no one struggled as top pair. Ryan Murray also had some struggles as he bounced around between partners prior to the Jones trade. Jones is the one guy here who stands out. As Carolyn points out he is the lone player here who can actually move the play.




As you can see on the bottom of this graph, Jones’ role increased this season going from a second/third pair player to a first pair role this season and his performance remained steady even improving in some areas. His points per 60 went up which shows him coming into his own offensively. I've said this a bunch but I can’t stress it enough, if the Jackets are to contend for a playoff spot they need Jones to be that franchise number one defencemen. He’s heading down that path already hopefully a full training camp and year with this team he can better understand the system and take another step forward.

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