With Two Strong Outings For Flyers, Martin Jones’ Trade Stock Rises

These days, it’s not easy to find positives around the Philadelphia Flyers’ world. But a pair of solid outings this week from backup goaltender Martin Jones have come at a good time, potentially boosting his trade deadline value.

The 32-year-old joined the Flyers this season on a one-year contract with a cap hit of $2 million. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year.

With his relatively low salary and no trade protection, he could be an appealing add for a playoff contender that’s looking to shore up its goaltending depth.

According to ESPN’s Kristen Shilton and Greg Wyshynski, “The Oilers were one of the teams that checked in on Jones earlier this season and found the terms rather high for a sub-replacement goalie.”

Martin Jones As A Flyer

At first glance, it’s true. Jones’ stat line for this season doesn’t inspire confidence that he’d add value to a playoff team.

In 20 games played, he has a record of 6-10-3, with a 3.51 goals-against average and .898 save percentage. It’s his fourth-straight year with a save percentage below .900. And Jones’ GAA has risen every single year since he was a top-ranking prospect, serving as Jonathan Quick‘s backup with the Los Angeles Kings in the 2013-14 season.

In his defense, goals-against is seen as more of a team statistic, and the Flyers have struggled from front to back when it comes to keeping the puck out of the net this season. In a very challenging environment, Jones’ save percentage has improved slightly this season. He finished at .896 in each of his last three years with the San Jose Sharks. This summer, the Sharks bought out the last three years of the contract they’d signed with Jones in 2017, which carried a cap hit of $5.75 million per season.

Looking a little deeper under the hood, Jones has -6.41 goals saved above average at 5-on-5 this season according to Natural Stat Trick. That’s ninth-worst in the league.

As a team, the Flyers have allowed the second-highest rate of high-danger shots against at 5-on-5 this season, second only to Detroit. Jones has seen 9.35 high-danger shots against per 60 minutes of play, slightly higher than Carter Hart‘s 9.03. Jones’ high-danger save percentage is .796, compared to .827 for Hart.

The Past Two Games

What about the Flyers’ two most recent games, when Jones was pressed into service on back-to-back nights while Hart was sidelined with an eye infection?

“I’ve done it a few times in my career,” Jones said about the back-to-back set, following Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues. “It helped having the 3 o’clock game (Sunday). You can get to bed at a reasonable hour and feel a little better today.”

Jones gave up four goals on 31 shots in Sunday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, then just two goals on 24 shots before the St. Louis Blues added two empty-netters on Monday. In a small sample size, that’s a decent goals-against average of 2.93, though Jones’ save percentage was just .891.

And while Natural Stat Trick shows that Jones had a high-danger save percentage of just .643 during those two games, the statistics site also indicates that he was at exactly zero goals-saved-above-average at 5-on-5.

Considering he was playing back-to-back games against two dynamic offensive teams, as a last-minute fill in, that’s pretty decent.

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The Goalie Market

Other rental goalies that could be available at the trade deadline include Braden Holtby and Anton Khudobin of the Dallas Stars, Joonas Korpisalo of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Anton Forsberg of the Ottawa Senators — perhaps even Marc-Andre Fleury of the Chicago Blackhawks, although he may be reluctant to uproot his life for the second time in less than a year.

Teams that are willing to make longer-term commitments could also consider Semyon Varlamov from the New York Islanders or Alexandar Georgiev from the Rangers.

Fleury and Holtby have both won Stanley Cups, and Khudobin reached the 2020 final in the bubble with the Dallas Stars. For his part, Jones has a solid 62 games of playoff experience, including 24 games played with the Sharks during their run to the 2016 final.

In addition to the Oilers, other clubs that appear to be playoff-bound and may be looking for puck-stopping help could include the Washington Capitals, Minnesota Wild and Vegas Golden Knights, where Robin Lehner is dealing with an injury issue.

The Future In Net

From the Flyers’ point of view, Jones is easily tradable. Since he’s is an impending unrestricted free agent, it’s highly unlikely that he’ll be with Philadelphia beyond this season. And the organization has depth at the goaltending position.

Goaltending prospects currently in the fold include Kirill Ustimenko, Felix Sandstrom and Samuel Ersson, who have all been plying their trade in the minors this season. The Flyers will also likely try to sign and bring in 25-year-old Russian prospect Ivan Fedotov, following his strong silver medal-winning performance at the Beijing Olympics.

With a Claude Giroux trade looking all-but-inevitable and some other players also potentially on the mood, Chuck Fletcher has his work cut out for him leading into the March 21 deadline, as he tries to re-shape the future of his team.

It will be interesting to see where Jones ends up, and what price he commands.

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