Maple Leafs sign Martin Jones

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced today that the hockey club has signed goaltender Martin Jones to a one-year contract worth $875,000.

As expected, the Maple Leafs have added some insurance in net. The link above contains Jones' career save % and win/loss record, but for a more meaningful look at this 33-year-old goaltender, I turned to Moneypuck.

Jones had 48 starts in Seattle last year, and was the 12th worst goalie in the NHL by Goals Saved Above Expected for goalies with at least 20 games played. He looks less dire by the per 60 minutes measure at 18th worst out of 62 goalies in total. By either measure, he was significantly less effective than the oft-injured Matt Murray was during the 26 games he played in.

Jones played most of his NHL career in San Jose, seeing some real playoff action back in 2015-2016, his season in the sun, results-wise. Since then he has been below to well below replacement level most of the time, including another playoff run in 2018-2019 where he did not help a weak Sharks team.

He played one year with the Flyers after leaving the Sharks and before his year of backup duties that morphed into the starter's role in Seattle. He actually ended up the best of the Kraken's three choices last season.

Jones has not played in the AHL since 2013. It does not seem likely that he was signed to be an AHL starter and occasional NHL callup, and the goalie market being what it is, and the amount of NHL experience he has, it is unlikely he would clear waivers.

I'd say he's the backup until Joe Woll proves he shouldn't be, if he can.

Free Agents and Contracts