Joseph Woll has completed his conditioning stint in the AHL and has been recalled to the Toronto Maple Leafs. When he got injured at the start of December, he was the starter and was having a strong season. A lot has gone on since then, but one thing remains, Woll should be starting at least half of the games the remainder of the season.
According to Luke Fox, there is no plans on when Woll will start, but Sheldon Keefe is comfortable carrying three goalies. This is not necessarily a long-term solution and in a season where goaltending is hard to come by for some teams, the Maple Leafs have an asset they can move. If they need more skaters, don’t have the space, and have to send Jones down, there’s no doubt he will be picked up. That is what we are going to look at here, a few destinations where Jones could find himself by the trade deadline.
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers lost one of their starters in Carter Hart for the remainder of the season. This forced them to call up Cal Petersen to serve as the backup behind Samuel Ersson. He is being overplayed because as Petersen showed in the 7-6 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, their current backup shouldn’t be starting games in the NHL.
Related: Penguins: 3 Potential Trade Destinations for Alex Nedeljkovic
The Flyers may sell, stand pat, or even buy at the deadline. If they do anything, it should be to get a little more goaltending help and bring in Jones as a rental to play behind Ersson and give him some relief. The Flyers are still holding a playoff spot, but if Ersson continues to be overworked and there is no help, things could go south quickly. They should at least make the effort at a low price to pay.
Colorado Avalanche
The Colorado Avalanche need help in net. Alexandar Georgiev isn’t having a great season as far as the numbers go, but the team is outscoring their problems. This may have worked for the Avs when they won the Stanley Cup, but they fell in the first round last season. If Georgiev gets injured at any point in the playoffs, the Avalanche are done. If they have at least a little bit of help with someone like Jones, Georgiev can rest a little more and the team will be at least a little bit more covered than having Ivan Prosvetov or Justus Annunen forced into a high stakes series.
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins may be an out of the box idea right now, but if you consider that Linus Ullmark may be dealt, the team is going to need a backup goalie heading down the stretch and into the playoffs. Jeremy Swayman has never started more than 39 games in a season and is on his way to starting more this season. If Ullmark is moved to free up cap space to use elsewhere, Jones would be a good replacement to serve as a backup for the remainder of the season. He proved he can start when called upon and has done so unexpectedly for the past two seasons after being counted out.
