Wednesday morning Toronto Maple Leafs learned that General Manager Brad Treliving either woke up from his nap or came back from vacation as he finally completed a transaction.
The news that broke was that the Toronto Maple Leafs had signed veteran goaltender Martin Jones to a one-year deal worth $875,000.
The 34-year old Jones was once thought of as one of the top up and coming goalies in the league and he even garnered Vezina Trophy consideration in back-to-back seasons.
Jones played his junior career for the Calgary Hitman and had impressive numbers posting a 2.24 GAA and .912 save percentage over 148 games, however went undrafted. (Stats eliteprospects.com).
The North Vancouver native would sign with the Los Angeles Kings organization, eventually climbing from the ECHL to start 34 games with the Kings over two seasons from 2013-2015.
What the Toronto Maple Leafs Are Getting in Martin Jones
Although Jones had impressive numbers in his brief stint in the NHL, his future was blocked because of Jonathan Quick and he was eventually packaged to Boston for Milan Lucic. However, days after being acquired by the Bruins he was quickly swapped back to California where he would become the starter for the San Jose Sharks.
In each of his first three seasons in San Jose, Jones posted 30+ win seasons which included a 2.40 GAA and .915 save percentage over his first 190 games. The undrafted goalie received Vezina Trophy votes in both 2015 and 2016.
Unfortunately for Jones and the Sharks his game dropped off drastically after the 2018-19 season, eventually losing his starting job.
San Jose elected to move on from Jones after the 2020-21 season which resulted in him signing on with the Philadelphia Flyers for a year and then the Seattle Kraken this past season.
In Seattle, Jones was able to bounce back slightly as he collected 27-wins, however had a goals against average near three (2.90) and save percentage well below .900 (.887).
Martin Jones Will Need to Clear Waivers
In Toronto, Jones will most likely serve as the third string goalie and the team will likely attempt to sneak him through waivers to send him to the Toronto Marlies. If he can get through the waiver wire, Jones entire cap hit will not count against the Maple Leafs.
You would expect that Jones signed the deal well award that his only opportunity to dress in games this season for the Toronto Maple Leafs is if there is an injury to one of Ilya Samsonov or Joseph Woll. With that scenario, Jones likely did not find a job anywhere in the league and settled for this contract.
What will likely happen is Jones will remain in Toronto with whatever team is in town (Marlies or Maple Leafs). He can also serve as somewhat of an assistant goalie coach to all the young goalies within the organization and get some spot starts for the Marlies.