Flyers sign goalie Martin Jones to a one-year deal

The Philadelphia Flyers have their backup goalie. Former San Jose Sharks netminder Martin Jones is headed to Philadelphia.

It is a one-year, $2 million deal.

Chuck Fletcher said that the Flyers’ biggest need was a backup goalie. He got his guy.

Jones, 31, was just bought out by the Sharks. He had three years left on his contract at a $5.75 million cap hit. His numbers fell off a cliff a few years ago and plateaued there.

In his first three seasons with the Sharks (2015 to 2018), Jones had a .915 save percentage and 2.40 goals against average in 190 games –– over 60 games each season. Then things took a turn for the worse.

Jones posted an .896 save percentage in each of the last three seasons. That was in 62 starts in 2018-19, 39 starts two years ago, and 34 starts last season.

Prior to joining the Sharks in 2015, Jones went 16-11-2 with a .923 SV% and 2.66 GAA across two seasons as a backup goalie with the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings goaltending coach at the time, Kim Dillabaugh, has been with the Flyers since 2015. Maybe Dillabaugh can get Jones back on track, but the Flyers need better than a .896 save percentage.

The good thing about Jones is that he can likely play a larger workload than Brian Elliott did. Jones is a bit younger and has been a starting goalie for the past six seasons.

Perhaps this is a message from management that Hart is further along in his “comeback” than we thought. The young netminder struggled mightily throughout 2021, and the Flyers defense didn’t do him any favors. Chuck Fletcher has revamped the blue line and hopefully, that’ll help in front of Hart and Jones.

Photo: mark6mauno