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Don't Be Surprised When Martin Jones Gets Sent Down

December 19, 2013, 2:17 PM ET [17 Comments]
Jason Lewis
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
But Jason! He is 6-0-0, he has three shutouts, AND his save-percentage is over .970.

I know.

But don't be surprised that when Jonathan Quick comes back Martin Jones is sent down to the AHL Manchester Monarchs. Why? It is simple. It isn't his time yet. He is making a helluva case, but next year will be the time for Martin Jones to be a full time NHL backup.

There are seemingly plenty of options for the Kings. You have two worthwhile goaltenders playing way above their heads in a situation where you would expect them to struggle. You have an injured Conn Smythe winner and Vezina finalist waiting to get healthy from an always iffy and hard to predict groin injury. Those saying "trade one of them" aren't thinking in the long term.

Several years ago, in Toronto, a not-so young goaltender named Jean-Sebastien Giguere was expected to be the starter for the Maple Leafs. In Mid-November Giguere suffered a groin strain that sidelined him for about 3-4 weeks, forcing the Leafs to rely on the unpredictable Swedish signee from 2009-10 Jonas Gustavsson and an unproven rookie 22-year old James Reimer.

Giguere came back three weeks later, only to re-injure the groin six games back. After returning from that a month later it was spotty and inconsistent starts for the former Cup and Conn Smythe winner. Quite simply, he was not the same. Had the Maple Leafs not had Gustavsson or Reimer, things could have been pretty bad. While the Maple Leafs still missed the playoffs by about four games that year, they stayed relevant to the end and also found out what a good goaltender James Reimer was.

The point in all this, is that you can't trust that Quick will come back 100-percent. He might. However, he might not. He might look good for ten games and then tweak himself again. For a goaltender who relies so heavily on his athleticism and his lateral movement it is best to be safe rather than sorry.

The Kings do in fact have an embarrassment of riches at goaltending right now, and it is best to keep it that way for the time being. Not only have Ben Scrivens and Martin Jones been aces for the club, down in Manchester the 2009 4th-round selection J.F. Berube has been stellar since taking over the reins as a starter. Further down the pipeline, former Czech World Junior Championship goaltender, Patrik Bartosak, is having another strong outing with Red Deer of the WHL this year. Why would you want to limit your depth in a situation where it may be integral to have it?

With Ben Scrivens being a UFA at the end of this season and Martin Jones being a UFA at the end of next season the course of action seems simple enough. Slow play Jones. Send him back to the minors for playing time for now and go with your tandem of Scrivens and Quick until the end of the season. If Quick looks to be 100-percent fully recovered by the time the deadline rolls around, MAYBE deal Scrivens for a low draft pick before he walks. Who knows who would be looking for a backup goaltender at the deadline though.

The Kings have always been an organization that practices patience with their development and I would expect nothing less of them here. While Jones has been superb in his cup of coffee, and it may be a difficult decision for Lombardi to send the kid down after a worthwhile start to his career, it would be the correct thing to do. Jones, even if he is sent down has done the most important thing possible in his young career: He put himself on the NHL map. No one from this point forward will be asking, "Who is Martin Jones?" You saw the Anaheim Ducks do a similar thing with Freddy Andersen after his enormous 7-1-0 start. They did not pull the trigger on trading Hiller or Fasth even though the talk was there. They send him back to Norfolk in the AHL. Considering how those two (Hiller, Fasth) have since swapped injury and inconsistency it seems like a brilliant move at this point that they didn't trade or lose one of them.

However, I always love to point out the unpredictable nature of the NHL. Maybe Jones doesn't lose a game until the New Year and he writes his name into the history books and onto the depth chart in permanent ink. Who knows.

From Fukufuji, Brust, Taylor, and LaBarbera to Quick, Bernier, Jones, Scrivens, and Berube. What a phenomenal problem to have in an L.A. Franchise that hasn't seen this kind of goaltending depth since...well...ever. Thank you Lombardi, thank you Bill Ranford.


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Speaking of goaltenders, I just wanted to point out how terribly creepy it was for me to realize the other night during the Kings telecast how much Corey Schneider looks like Jodie Foster.

If you weren't following me on twitter, you should know that this kept me up basically all night.




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Some slight changes to the lineup are expected for tonight's match up against the San Jose Sharks (21-7-6). Marty Jones left the ice first and is the projected starter according to the LA Kings Insider Jon Rosen.

Here is the full posting on the line rushes at the morning skate. Some of the moves include Willie Mitchell potentially being moved to IR to make room for Colin Fraser who skated on the fourth line instead of Linden Vey.

Follow me on twitter for news and notes about the Kings and the NHL, and also more photos of Corey Schneider looking like Jodie Foster.




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