Swedish players are today in NHL (and) that 10 percent of players in NHL are Swedes. We can see that we have a high production line.”That’s also the case in Finland, which has the league’s leading scorer in Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen and produced Winnipeg’s 43-goal scorer Patrik Laine, young Dallas def

SAN JOSE Josh Morrissey Jersey , Calif. (AP) For years, the San Jose Sharks seemed to have all the ingredients necessary to win a Stanley Cup. With the possible exception of a goaltender who could steal a game when the rest of the team wasn’t in top form.Martin Jones has been just that kind of goalie since coming to San Jose three years ago. He helped the Sharks make it to the Stanley Cup Final in 2016; was their best player in a first-round loss to Edmonton a year ago; and played at an elite level once again during a first-round sweep against Anaheim this month.”He’s just calm. Nothing really rattles him,” captain Joe Pavelski said. ”This time of the season that goes such a long ways. You know you’re going to face a little adversity, you know you’re going to maybe have it in your own end at times and you need some saves and he’s always been there. Nothing’s really fazed him. As a team playing in front of a goalie like that, it gives you a lot of confidence.”Few goalies have ever been better in the postseason than Jones, who has a 1.90 goals against average and .931 save percentage in 36 playoff contests heading into a second-round meeting against Vegas.Jones has the lowest goals against average of any active goalie with at least 20 postseason games and ranks third all-time in playoff percentage, trailing only Braden Holtby (.932) and Tim Thomas (.933).Having that rock on the back end provides comfort for the rest of the team, knowing Jones has the ability to erase any mistakes they make and will keep the Sharks in the game.”It’s not just the saves, it’s the timing of the saves http://www.officialhockeyjetsshop.com/authentic-adidas-kyle-connor-jersey ,” coach Peter DeBoer said. ”When you make saves at key times or the right times of the game you have that confidence as a group to try to make more plays or take a chance here or there to score a goal, because you know if it’s the wrong decision that a lot of nights he has those guys’ back.”Jones has been outstanding ever since joining the Sharks three years ago after beginning his career as Jonathan Quick’s backup in Los Angeles. The Kings traded him to Boston in June 2015 only to watch the Bruins almost immediately deal him to the rival Sharks for Sean Kuraly and a first-round draft pick.The move paid off immediately as Jones quickly proved he had what it took to be a No. 1 goalie in the regular season and even better on the bigger stage of the playoffs.He anchored the team on a run to the Stanley Cup Final two years ago and was far and away San Jose’s top player in a six-game loss to Pittsburgh. He was outstanding again last year in a first-round loss to Edmonton and has been even better this year.He earned a shutout in Game 1 against the Ducks, set a franchise playoff record with 45 regulation saves in Game 3, and helped seal the clincher with several point-blank stops against Corey Perry to protect a one-goal lead. He stopped 128 of 132 shots for a .970 save percentage in the series.”He’s an all-star,” Couture said. ”He’s a top goalie in the league, and I think that’s known now. He’s been great since he’s been a San Jose Shark.”The understated Jones said he doesn’t concern himself with where he ranks among top goaltenders or who is in the opposing net, even if it’s a player as talented as Vegas’ Marc-Andre Fleury, who stopped 127 of 130 shots in a first-round sweep against the Kings.Jones said he has plenty to worry about with the skaters on the Golden Knights.”They’re a fast team. They come at you with all four lines, they forecheck hard Mark Scheifele Jersey ,” he said. ”They’re a tenacious hard-working team. We have to make sure we’re prepared properly and ready to go for the start of Game 1. They don’t give you any room to breathe really. They come at you hard.”STATWATCHJones’ career .931 save percentage is third best ever among goalies with at least 20 playoff games. He has allowed more than three goals in regulation just twice in 34 playoff starts.BIGGEST MOMENTJones thrived on the big stage of the Stanley Cup Final two years ago against Pittsburgh when he was probably San Jose’s best player. Jones had a .932 save percentage for the series and had 44 saves in a 4-2 win in Game 5 that kept the Sharks alive.SOMETHING TO WATCH FORJones wasn’t at his best against Vegas this season, with a 3.32 goals against average and .899 save percentage. He was knocked out early in the second period of the first meeting after allowing three goals on 14 shots, and lost two other times. Jones did stop 24 of 25 shots in a 2-1 home win last month against the Golden Knights.— When Rasmus Dahlin put pen to paper on his first NHL contract, the reverberations carried to Gothenburg and Lidkoping in his native Sweden.The No. 1 overall pick signing with the Buffalo Sabres earned Sweden more than $250,000 to put back into development.“It’s unreal,” Dahlin said. “We need all the money we can get.”Last year alone, the NHL paid more than $35 million in transfer fees as teams signed European players. There are agreements in place with all the major hockey-producing countries except Russia and Switzerland that allow the free flow of players to the best league in the world.“The purpose I suppose is to help prime the pump for hockey development,” deputy NHL Commissioner Bill Daly said. “The pool of players who can play in the National Hockey League continues to increase on a regular basis. … There’s more better players than ever before.”When the world junior championship begins Wednesday in Canada, it will be a showcase of that emerging talent spurred along in Europe and North America by this money. The NHL also sends junior leagues in Canada and the United States over $12 million annually and provides financial support for USA Hockey.That feeder system is partially responsible for the game’s explosion of young talent in recent years. Nowhere is that more evident than Sweden Mathieu Perreault Jersey , which received roughly $8 million last year for Dahlin and more than 30 other players signing NHL contracts.“That money is obviously huge,” said Detroit Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall, who is Swedish. “It doesn’t just go to the pro teams. I think it funnels down to your first team and the teams that are developing you and have been taking you on this ride. And that money is doing the same for the next generation of players: setting up with the right facilities and the right coaches and just try to surround them with the best circumstances that they can so they can succeed. That’s one of the reasons why Sweden’s been able to keep producing players.”The investment makes sense for the NHL, which currently has players from 16 different countries. The 31 — soon to be 32 — teams split the costs equally each year.It’s beneficial for national federations and European leagues and teams, too, even if Swedish Hockey Association vice president Peter Forsberg had to convince those in charge it was better to make a deal with the NHL than lose players for nothing.“I told them that I think it’s better you have an agreement because then we have impact in the kind of discussions,” said Forsberg, who shares the same name with the retired NHL star. “All the players who sign a contract with Swedish club or European club or whatever, they have always an out clause that they can go to the NHL. We can’t ever keep them in our league if you want to keep them in our league. We cannot sign the long contract that they do in soccer in Europe. We don’t have that kind of possibilities.”The trick is making sure the money goes to what it’s designed for. Daly Patrik Berglund Jersey Womens , who has been in charge of transfer fees since the end of the 2004-05 lockout, said federations are responsible for reporting where the funds go because the goal is to keep churning out players who one day could make it to the NHL.The federations distribute the money to various levels as they see fit. Forsberg said 95 percent of fees go back into programs that grow the sport in Sweden.“We ensure that the money goes back to the development,” Forsberg said. “You can see that on the result that we have around 10 percent of Swedish players are today in NHL (and) that 10 percent of players in NHL are Swedes. We can see that we have a high production line.”That’s also the case in Finland, which has the league’s leading scorer in Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen and produced Winnipeg’s 43-goal scorer Patrik Laine, young Dallas defenseman Miro Heiskanen and a whole generation of emerging star players.“They take care of the players, they help players to develop them to get ready to come over,” Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen said. “Like you’ve seen the last few years, Finnish players are really stepping up, so it’s a credit to every team back home.”Government contributions and smart leadership have also helped hockey blossom across Europe. Kronwall credited longtime coach-turned-general manager Tommy Boustedt for setting up position-specific camps in Sweden that specifically allowed for the development of Dahlin and more modern defensemen.The NHL money paved the way for that.“We’re a hard-working country http://www.officialhockeyjetsshop.com/authentic-adidas-nikolaj-ehlers-jersey ,” Dahlin said. “We’re humble. We don’t have a lot of players, but some of the guys come to the NHL and for me, a younger guy, I know that a Swedish guy can make it, too.”