Martin Jones gets his shot to show what he can do for the Maple Leafs

Although he isn’t making his Maple Leafs debut, Martin Jones is set to make his first start as a Maple Leaf tonight against arguably the best team in the Eastern Conference, the New York Rangers.

The 33-year-old netminder got into his first game as a Maple Leaf last Thursday against the Ottawa Senators after Joseph Woll went down with an ankle injury at the midway point of the third period. Jones, who was coming in relief with a two-goal lead, made nine saves on ten shots, picking up his first win with his new club despite not starting the game.

With Woll sidelined week-to-week and Ilya Samsonov starting last night against the New York Islanders, tonight presents the opportunity for the North Vancouver native to begin a new chapter in his career.

Tonight will be Jones’ 446th career game and 430th career start over his 11-year career in the NHL. He’s played for four other organizations during this time. From starting his career with the Los Angeles Kings to finding success with the San Jose Sharks from 2015-16 to 2017-18 to playing less than 20 games for the Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken in 2021-22 and 2022-23, he has now made his way north of the border to Toronto looking for an opportunity to help bring this team some veteran presence between the pipes.

Although he hasn’t found much success in regard to goalie stats over the past five seasons, posting a 3.09 goals against average and an .895 save percentage, Jones has found ways to win games for his team. Over these five years (220 games), he has 107 wins, including 27 last season with the surprising Seattle Kraken despite posting a save percentage of .886 (yikes).

Toronto likely isn’t asking 33-year-old Martin Jones to turn back the clock and be the goalie he once was between the 2013-14 season and the 2017-18 season when he averaged a 2.34 goals against average and a .916 save percentage, but if the veteran netminder can give this team league average goaltending with Joseph Woll sidelined and Ilya Samsonov shaky at times, it’ll go a long way, and it starts tonight with his first start as a Toronto Maple Leaf at Madison Square Garden.

Pregame details:

Maple Leafs’ projected lineup:

Matthew Knies – Auston Matthews – William Nylander
Tyler Bertuzzi – John Tavares – Mitch Marner
Nick Robertson – Max Domi – Calle Jarnkrok
Noah Gregor – David Kampf – Bobby McMann

Morgan Rielly – TJ Brodie
William Lagesson – Jake McCabe
Simon Benoit – Conor Timmins

One note regarding the Maple Leafs’ projected lineup tonight: Sheldon Keefe spoke to the media earlier this morning and said the lineup on forward and defence might look different tonight as some guys are sick. Bobby McMann is also projected to slot back in the lineup tonight after leaving the optional skate early this morning.

Rangers’ projected lineup:

Chris Kreider – Mika Zibanejad – Blake Wheeler
Artemi Panarin – Vincent Trocheck – Alexis Lafreniere
Will Cuylle – Nick Bonino – Jonny Brodzinski
Jimmy Vesey – Barclay Goodrow – Tyler Pitlick

Ryan Lindgren – Adam Fox
Erik Gustafsson – Jacob Trouba
Zac Jones – Braden Schneider

Projected goalies:

Martin Jones (TOR) vs. Igor Shesterkin (NYR)

Broadcast:

TSN4, 7:00 pm ET/4:00 pm PT

(Stats from Hockey-Reference.com)

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