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Jones ‘looking to get my minutes back’ after Preds cut ice time

Sethjones3

One of the big stories from early this season was the massive ice time being logged by Nashville’s rookie defenseman, Seth Jones.

Recently, though, that narrative has changed -- Jones played a season-low 9:29 against the Rangers on Tuesday -- and now he’s looking to reverse that course.

“I’ve had a few meetings with [Preds head coach Barry Trotz] and was probably playing more minutes than I should at the beginning of the year because [Roman] Josi got hurt, but that was the circumstance,” Jones told The Tennessean. “I think how many minutes I play is reflected with how I actually play.

“That’s usually how it works, but I’m looking to get my minutes back up.”

Jones logged some remarkable TOI totals in the first month of the season, including 28:14 in a 2-1 shootout loss to L.A. on Oct. 17 -- just his seventh NHL game -- and 30:19 in a 5-4 shootout loss to Phoenix on Oct. 31.

When Shea Weber was lost after taking a puck to the eye in late November, Jones’ minutes spiked again. He played a career-high 30:43 against Philly on Nov. 30 and 29:40 the following game against Vancouver -- but there’s been a dramatic down spike since.

Jones is minus-11 on the season and his Corsi (a plus-minus statistic that measures shot attempts) has decreased steadily as the year’s progressed. His offensive production has dried up -- just three points in his last 17 games -- and, as a result, Trotz has dramatically cut Jones’ minutes.

Prior to playing less than 10 minutes against the Rangers, Jones saw just 12:42 in a 5-2 loss to Washington.