Martin Jones is headed back to the Pacific Division.
Less than a week after he was acquired by the Boston Bruins in the Milan Lucic trade, the 25-year-old goalie has been flipped to San Jose, where he’ll form a netminding tandem with Alex Stalock.
As first reported by ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun, the return to Boston is a first-round draft pick in 2016 plus unsigned prospect Sean Kuraly, a forward at Miami University.
“Martin was at the top of our list of players that we had targeted,” said Sharks GM Doug Wilson, per CSN Bay Area. “We’re extremely excited to have him on board.”
The undrafted Jones has a .923 career save percentage in the NHL, which is good. However, he’s only started 29 games total, and his save percentage was just .906 last season for the Kings.
In other words, the Sharks -- a team that professes to have a “win right now” mentality -- are rolling the dice on a pretty inexperienced goalie. Actually, make that two inexperienced goalies, given Stalock only has 37 career starts to his name.
The Bruins are now without a backup goalie.