The Chicago Blackhawks and general manager Stan Bowman made some major moves this summer. One of those major moves was the blockbuster that involved landing Seth Jones and signing him to a monster extension. While Jones is looked at overall as a young stud defenseman, his performance last year and the monster deal has received some criticism. Jones spoke to to the media about the criticism and joining the Blackhawks. «You can't control what people say about you, and you can read it if you want — it just gives you motivation,» he said. «I definitely take motivation from that. I know I didn't have the greatest season last year. It is what it is. I can't do anything about it now except come into the next season ready to go. That's my full intention.»
«There's always pressure,» he said. «I put pressure on myself to be the best I can be. But when it comes to (feeling the weight of the contract), not really. I've just got to go out there and play my game, and hopefully, that can take care of itself. I still have room to grow in my game. Of course, I want to be better offensively this year. But at the same time, I'm not going to go force things all the time and get out of my comfort zone and away from what makes me a good player.»When it comes to his new team. «That was the big thing last year,» he said. «It was hard to really get tight as a group. You couldn't go to dinner, couldn't do anything away from the rink. Or they didn't want you to, at least. This year it'll be a lot easier when you have road dinners, dinners at home, you can hang out with the guys as a group away from the rink. I'm really looking forward to that. That's when you get a lot tighter as a group, you start hanging out off the ice and really figuring out each other's personalities and funny things about each other.»
«I definitely want to have a great start to the season, like any other season. I don't want to be the guy who doesn't have a great start and wasn't ready. … I'm very excited. Extremely excited. I love being out there with the guys. Seems like a tight group and we have a nice mix between veterans and young guys. Hopefully, we can all come together.»
What do you think of Jones' comments?
