Of all of Chuck Fletcher’s offseason moves – there are nine new players on the Flyers active roster that weren’t there last season – the one that left many heads a-scratchin’ was the signing of goalie Martin Jones.

Jones was a one-time top prospect of the Los Angeles Kings, and worked with current Flyers goalie coach Kim Dillabaugh. He had a relationship with Flyers coach Alain Vigneault as well, albeit more off-ice than on, as AV knew his family really well because Jones’ dad ran Rogers Arena in Vancouver for the seven years AV was there as a coach. AV got to know young Martin as he was growing up and becoming a prospect in junior hockey.

There was familiarity there when the signing was made, but many wondered why the Flyers, desperately in need of an NHL-caliber backup for Carter Hart coming off a disastrous 2020-21 campaign, and more than that, a guy who could play even more in case Hart still wasn’t right a season later, would turn to a guy who had been absolutely dreadful for a few seasons in San Jose when other veteran goalies, including one with a Stanley Cup to his name as recently as three years ago, were available.

But New Jersey overpaid for Jonathan Bernier, a goalie the Flyers had targeted, and according to a couple of league sources, the aforementioned Stanley Cup winner, Braden Holtby, didn’t want to play in Philadelphia. He chose to sign an identical contract (one year, $2 million) as Jones eventually signed with the Flyers to go to Dallas with the Stars.

The Flyers then settled for Plan C, which was Jones, and a crossing of the fingers that his previous relationships with the goalie coach and the head coach would resuscitate his career.


He wasn’t especially impressive in the preseason, which is what left a lot of pundits, including yours truly, still skeptical of the signing as the start of the season approached.

He got his first start against Boston last week, and although he made 37 saves, he did allow three goals in a game that best qualified as a performance where “he kept his team in the game.” It was the same kind of thing we used to applaud with starting pitchers who threw five innings and allowed three runs when the Phillies were a good offensive team.

In that start, Martin Jones was Kyle Kendrick. Still not a lot to be waving towels in the stands about.

Then came Thursday.

The Flyers were playing their first of 13 sets of back-to-back games on the schedule this season. They were coming off an epic contest in Edmonton against the fastest team in the NHL. Combine that with travel out to Western Canada, the time switch, going from one city to another and playing a team you just played five games ago, and the Flyers were going to need Martin Jones to be more than Kyle Kendrick. They were going to need him to be Cole Hamels.

And he was:

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Jones made 27 saves and allowed just one goal – a first period shot by Quinn Hughes that caught iron and then took a Vancouver bounce off of the back of Jones’ skate and into the net – en route to a 2-1 Flyers victory.

“He was an All-Star tonight,’’ Vigneault said. “He played extremely well. He didn’t have a lot of work in the first period (only four shots), we came out with a lot of energy. In the second and third periods, there’s no doubt he was a big difference in our getting the win tonight. In our penalty killing tonight (five Vancouver power plays) he made some big saves. When we needed a save, we got a save.’’

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The Flyers once again had a great first period. It’s difficult to get used to typing that because for so many seasons one of the things that chronically ailed the Flyers were slow starts. But after another solid opening period, the Flyers got a little loosey-goosey in the second and third periods. The Canucks ended up with five power plays, and couldn’t score on any of them. All because Jones was the difference maker:

And it wasn’t just the coach who was impressed.

Captain Claude Giroux, who assisted on both Flyers goals and extended his season-opening point streak to six games, said Jones was “very clutch.”

Sean Couturier, who had a goal and an assist, added, “He made some big saves late to keep us ahead. He was awesome tonight. He played a heck of a game.’’

Jones, as any good hockey teammate would, deflected all the accolades and gave credit to the guys in front of him for playing well defensively.

“The communication has been really good on the ice,” he said. “The guys have been playing really well in front of me, so it’s been great. It’s been a good start, but the team has been a big part of that as well.’’

Oh, and there’s this… Jones is from Vancouver. He had a lot of family and friends in the crowd for this one, as usual. And there’s something about the way he plays when he goes home:

When Jones will get his next start remains to be seen. Hart is likely back in net Saturday in Calgary as the Flyers finish off the road trip, and next week the games are spaced out a bit with a home game Tuesday against Arizona before a mini road trip to Pittsburgh Thursday and Washington the following Saturday.

He’ll likely get one of those games for sure and the following week the Flyers have a similar schedule with a home game on a Wednesday against Toronto and then back-to-back road games on the weekend in Carolina and Dallas.

Maybe Jones will get to start against Holtby in that last one and the Flyers can show Holtby he made a big mistake blowing off Philly.

Either way, if Jones can give the Flyers a game like this each week, then most of us will be wrong and Chuck Fletcher will have been right with his addition.