Blackhawks’ Seth Jones has no illusions about hollow All-Star selection

Someone from the last-place Hawks had to be chosen, and Jones was the lucky — or unlucky — man. He’s now headed to Florida on Feb. 3-4, but he remains dissatisfied with his performance this season.

SHARE Blackhawks’ Seth Jones has no illusions about hollow All-Star selection
Seth Jones looks on after a Blackhawks goal allowed.

Seth Jones will represent the woeful Blackhawks at the 2023 NHL All-Star Game.

Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

What does Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones think about the NHL rule that requires 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 illusions about why he’s headed to Fort 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.

For the record, however, he understands the logic behind the rule, even if it leads 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 still have situations 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 the Central Division All-Star team, which was announced Thursday.

Three more players in each division will be determined by fan vote in the coming weeks, but there inevitably 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 forward Troy Terry (60-32), but Connor McDavid obviously was chosen over him.

On the other hand, the NHL’s diverse selection process ensures all fans headed to 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 have 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, however. He remained as self-critical as usual Friday when evaluating 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 taken note of 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 play Friday ranked 13th among NHL defensemen in ice time, averaging 24 minutes, 41 seconds, 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 of 185 defensemen.

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.

‘‘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.’’

The Latest
Woman is getting anxious about how often she has to host her husband’s hunting buddy and his wife, who don’t contribute at all to mealtimes.
For as big of a tournament moment as Terrence Shannon Jr. is having, it hasn’t been deemed “madness” because, under the brightest lights, he has been silent.
This year, to continue making history, the Illini will have to get past No. 2-seeded Iowa State.
The Emmy winner’s TV career has spanned more than 60 years, and her latest role is opposite Kristen Wiig in the Apple TV+ series “Palm Royale.”