When we reviewed Jacob MacDonald last season, we called him San Jose’s Swiss Army Knife. The situation has not changed much this season. Once again, MacDonald served as a utility player for the Sharks. He slotted into the lineup on the offense when there were too many injuries to the forward corps. He dropped back to defense when the defense got a little too thin. He was there when you needed him.
However, a late season send down to the Barracuda just before the trade deadline proved that not only was MacDonald expendable to the Sharks’ lineup moving forward, but he had little use to cup-contending teams. MacDonald cleared waivers and only returned to the Sharks when injuries once again reared their ugly heads.
MacDonald’s 2023-24 production
As seasons go, MacDonald didn’t have a particularly bad one.
| Games Played | G | A | Pts | +/- | TOI/G |
| 34 | 7 | 2 | 9 | -14 | 12:01 |
Looking at his numbers, nine points in 34 games projects out to a nearly 22-point season. Better yet, 16-17 goals in a single season from a player like MacDonald would be an excellent outcome for any team.
Yet, that 12:01 of ice time per game shows that he was used in limited situations. As a forward, that’s fourth-line minutes, and keep in mind that those numbers are slightly inflated by the handful of games that he played on defense.
MacDonald is just meh
And that really is the problem with MacDonald as a player. There isn’t a problem. He just is. Look at his player card from Evolving-Hockey.
One of the first things you notice is how bad his GAR is at even-strength. GAR means goals above replacement and he’s not helping the team in that regard. It gets even worse when you recognize that the xGAR, the expected goals above replacement when MacDonald is on the ice is actually supposed to be in a positive direction.
The second thing you notice from the player card is just how impactful MacDonald was on the power play this season. You might be thinking, well, that must mean that he’s a power play specialist. But that’s not the case.
For MacDonald, this is simply the result of having an elite string of games, the kind you tell your kids about when you remember the days you played pro hockey.
Notice that MacDonald had seven goals in 34 games this season; it’s so incredibly outside his norm as a player that it’s an anomaly. Because in the 101 career NHL games MacDonald played before this season, he had just three goals. That’s in total over the last five seasons of his career. So we scratch that stat as an outlier.
Which leaves all the other stats. The even strength defense, short-handed defense and penalties. In all of these instances, MacDonald’s game impact is barely discernable. He’s not particularly impactful one way or another. In fact, on the ice, there’s nothing about his game that jumps out to you, good or bad. He’s not particularly fast. He’s not particularly slow. He doesn’t make dynamic plays. He doesn’t make bonehead mistakes.
He’s just meh.
There’s nothing he does that makes it easy to pull him from the lineup. Yet also, there’s nothing he does that makes it a must to put him into the lineup.
MacDonald’s future with the Sharks
Which is why the Sharks need to take care with MacDonald. He is currently an unrestricted free agent coming off a season at the league minimum. It might be tempting for Sharks management to re-sign the forward/defenseman at an affordable contract just for insurance. However, that would do a disservice to the younger Sharks looking to make a push through the development pipeline.
To put it bluntly, MacDonald would simply fill a roster spot that could go to a younger player with better development upside. MacDonald is 31. There is no more upside to his game. What you see is what you get. He is what he is, and that seven-goal season that he just produced is not a sign that he’s simply a late bloomer. There’s nothing in MacDonald’s game to suggest there’s anything more there.
It’s time for the Sharks to stop settling for okay and start turning things around to take a step toward another playoff competitive team. That can start with a small move in choosing not to re-sign MacDonald this offseason.
Editor’s Note: Over the next few weeks, we will be rolling out the player reviews for the San Jose Sharks. We realize there were a lot of guys rotating into and out of the lineup and some of the key depth players were traded. As a result, Fear the Fin plans to focus on the players that are 1) still with the Sharks and 2) played 20 or more games for San Jose this season.
