Flyers’ New Goaltender Martin Jones Is Used To Proving His Doubters Wrong

Photo Credit: Len Redkoles/Getty Images

During a league-wide frantic frenzy to land a goalie this week that saw a bevy of different goaltenders signing with a new team, the Flyers’ general manager Chuck Fletcher was able to land one of his own. That player was none other than 31-year-old Martin Jones formerly of the San Jose Sharks. Most Flyers’ fans weren’t overly excited about Chuck’s pick in which he (in their minds) “settled” for Jones signing him for just one year at only $ 2 million dollars, but that’s because most Flyers fans are unfamiliar with his game, since Martin has spent his whole career playing in the Western Conference and therefore they don’t really know that much about him because they haven’t had the luxury of watching him play all that often so they can only judge him on his recent statistics. 

But when you look back into Jones’ history you can see he’s quite used to this. In fact, he has been having to prove himself to doubters for as long as he can remember. Sure, his dad who was vice-president of Arena Operations with the Vancouver Canucks when Martin was growing up helped him to get a look early in his Pee-Wee years, but Martin has battled for respect ever since. In his teens, Jones was taken in the fourth round of the 2005 WHL Bantam draft by the Calgary Hitman; But, once in Calgary, he was stuck behind the team’s starter for the next two seasons. Even though his play was impressive with a 18-8-1 record in the ‘07-’08 season as a backup, he still didn’t get any respect.  Jones was not taken by any NHL team in his draft year, but he did not let this discourage him. Instead, he made the most out of a tryout offer that was given to him by the Los Angeles Kings where he was able to captivate the teams’ scouts enough in rookie camp for him to be allowed to attend the team’s main camp where Jones did so well that he was then offered an entry-level contract before the camp’s completion. After signing with the Kings, he was then sent back to the WHL to further develop with the Hitmen where he then beat out his competition for the teams’ starting job. Once securing the teams #1 job, Jones again took advantage of this opportunity and ran with it- anyone who thought he was not deserving was proven wrong by shattering Calgary’s old win record of 39 wins in a single season by piling up an unheard of 45 wins on the season for the Hitman.     

Martin followed this up by getting invited to team Canada’s Junior summer camp where his play there earned him a spot backing up goaltender Jake Allen for the 2010 World Junior Championships. There, Jones ended up finding himself in net to help win his country the silver medal. Upon finishing the world juniors, Jones’ historic win totals, franchise record number of shutouts, and his league-leading goals against average (GAA) would later help him to be named the winner of the Del Wilson Trophy (which is given to the WHL’s top goaltender): An award the Flyers’ Carter Hart has also been lucky enough to win. 

With juniors now behind him, Jones then turned pro and once again had to prove himself to the Kings and their fans by ascending his way through the organization’s minor league affiliates, playing for their East Coast Hockey League’s (ECHL) Ontario Reign and the Kings American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate (at the time) the Manchester Monarchs. After a couple of seasons growing his game in the minors, he was then named to both the 2011 and 2013 AHL All Star Games before getting the chance to make his NHL debut on December 3^rd, 2013, against the Anaheim Ducks (which he won in a shutout). Once again seizing the opportunity, Jones made the most of not only this start but the ones that came directly after it as well. So much so that the Kings would trade their backup goalie that season to allow him to stay up with the big club. Martin would then prove his GM made a wise decision by recording a 1.81 GAA and a .934 SV% in 19 games played that year. He then followed that up with 2 wins in the playoffs that helped his team go on to winning the Stanley Cup. 

After another season of backing up the great Jonathan Quick, Jones was set to become a restricted free agent and, with his play growing ever stronger with each passing day, Los Angeles knew they would not be able to retain him, so the Kings then decided to trade him for a 1^st round pick and a player to the Bruins who then turned around and traded him to the San Jose Sharks for another 1^st round pick and a player. 

Once given his chance to become a starter in the NHL the very next season, Jones won an incredible 37 of his 65 games played for the Sharks that year. His strong play would then continue on to the post season where he carried his team (playing in 24 games) all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals in his first year as a starter where they took the Pittsburgh Penguins to game 6 before eventually losing to them.

This success would prove to be no fluke seeing that Jones then followed up that first season with three more just like it! In four consecutive seasons Jones played over sixty games a year for the Sharks. In those same four seasons he also won over 30 games per year for San Jose, which led to Jones backstopping the Sharks during four consecutive playoff appearances. Not to mention him making an NHL All Star game in 2017. Not too shabby, right? 

Martin accomplished all that while playing for a club that was still largely relying offensively on two players (Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau- who at the time were nearing their 40’s), and a defense that often times left him high and dry, having to stop 50 plus shots a night in order to win a game because their defense consisted mostly of guys like Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson who were more concerned about how many points they can net rather than how many pucks they can keep out of their own! Martin’s only saving grace during his time in San Jose was the vastly underrated defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic who is about as steady as they come on the blueline. 

With that being said, over the last two seasons Martin has been getting the brunt of the blame for the Sharks’ decline in play, but should he have been? With Jones still playing the majority of the games for San Jose in the last two seasons his numbers may have worsened, but did anyone in the Philadelphia area think to ask why? With the aging Joe Thornton’s decision to spend the glory years of his career playing in Toronto last season, the Sharks have simply done nothing over the course of the last few years to get ready for a change like that: During recent drafts they have struck out more times than not and in free agency they continue to allow themselves to be a less-than-preferred destination that tends to have to settle for the league’s leftovers or “star” players nobody else wants to put up any more (like Evander Kane). 

Therefore, Flyers fans should not look at Martin Jones who was bought out by the Sharks as some sort of consolation prize to the goalie they may have wanted the team to sign. At just 31-years of age Jones is still fully capable of being a starter, if need be, and let’s not forget he has plenty of playoff wins under his belt and a Stanley Cup ring on his finger as well. With the Flyers’ rebuilt defense now in front of him there’s no doubt in this goalie’s mind that now back under the tutelage of his old goalie coach, Flyers’ assistant coach Kim Dillabaugh (who helped him advance his game during their time in LA), Jones will once again prove his doubters wrong by helping the Flyers return to the playoffs by way of solidifying the teams’ crease as a formable 1A option!