Jones cements role as top defenseman for Blue Jackets

Seth Jones says the only difference between this season and his first four in the NHL is that he's playing more now.
The result of that extra ice time could be a Norris Trophy and potentially a long run through the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the Columbus Blue Jackets, who play the Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference First Round. Game 1 is at Capital One Arena on Thursday.

The defenseman averaged a personal NHL best 24:36 per game. He had 57 points, a single-season record for Blue Jackets defensemen, topping the 51 points James Wisniewski had in 2013-14. His 16 goals tied Zach Werenski for most by a Columbus defenseman this season.
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"When I was in Nashville before the trade (to the Blue Jackets on Jan. 6, 2016), I was playing 18, 17 1/2 minutes a night. Got traded, started playing 22, 23 minutes. Those five more minutes is a big difference in the opportunities you get, offensive-zone draws, offensive situations, power play. Lot of different things go into effect."
Jones' offense alone isn't what has brought him into the Norris conversation. He's a plus-10 and he's been on the ice for 47 goals-against at 5-on-5, the fifth-fewest among the 50 defensemen to play at least 1,300 minutes at 5-on-5, according to NaturalStatTrick.com. And the four players ahead of him all played fewer minutes.
"Just trying to be consistent with my game, trying to be aggressive every time I step on the ice," Jones said. "My goal is to be a difference maker every game."

Jones, 23, has been a difference maker almost from the first time he put on skates. The Nashville Predators selected him with the No. 4 pick of the 2013 NHL Draft, but Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen hoped he'd have a shot at him.
Kekalainen was hired by the Blue Jackets during the 2012-13 season. Portland of the Western Hockey League, where Jones was playing during his draft season, became a frequent destination.
"When I first joined the organization, we were in last place and we thought we'd be getting a top pick in that draft," Kekalainen said. "Then we had an unbelievable stretch of winning [14-5-1 in their final 20 games] and ended up drafting 14th, our first pick. When I first got here, I thought we'd be picking top-three so I'd go watch (Nathan) MacKinnon and I'd go watch Seth Jones again and again. But we kept winning so we were out."
Jones was gone but not forgotten by Kekalainen. When he started talking about a trade with the Predators during the 2015-16 season, Jones was his target. The Predators needed a franchise-caliber center, which the Blue Jackets had in Ryan Johansen. The asking price always was Jones.

"Sometimes when you get into those trade talks you can see there's a match," Kekalainen said. "We both knew from the start that if is going to be a trade, those are the two players that are going to be changing places."
In Nashville, Jones had to fight for ice time with Shea Weber, Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm. With Columbus, he arrived as the No. 1 defenseman.
This season he's further cemented that spot.
"He's grown so quickly into one of the leaders of this team without saying a word, just through his play," coach John Tortorella said. "He is a calming influence for our back end when momentum swings happen."
Now Jones going to be tasked with controlling those momentum swings to help the Blue Jackets win their first postseason series.
"He's a guy that isn't happy with OK, I've gotten here and this is what I keep doing," Kekalainen said. "He keeps getting better. That's a great quality in a young player, the will to improve all the time even though he's playing very well and achieving a lot as a player. He just wants to keep getting better."