Boston Bruins: Looking back at the Martin Jones trades

Remember when Martin Jones was a member of the Bruins for four days in 2015?

The summer of 2015 was an eventful one for the Boston Bruins. New general manager Don Sweeney had to be creative to retool the roster after the Bruins failed to reach the playoffs.

One of the biggest moves was the trade of Milan Lucic, who at one point was a core player for the Bruins. Sweeney traded Lucic to the Kings for Martin Jones, Colin Miller, and a first round pick.

Jones was the centerpiece of the deal, as he emerged as a starting goalie the year before in Los Angeles.

For a split second, it appeared that the Bruins could keep Jones as a quality backup to Tuukka Rask. Or, the Bruins could sign Jones and trade Rask to free up cap space. The Bruins, at the time, were really close to the cap and needed space for reinforcements.

Sweeney, however, ended all this discussion when he traded Jones to San Jose for Sean Kuraly and a first round pick.

Jones had a really impressive first year in San Jose. He had 37 wins in 65 appearances, and he finished seventh in the Vezina voting.

Then, Jones elevated his game in the playoffs, as the Sharks went all the way to the Cup Final. He had a 2.14 GAA and a .923 SV%, but San Jose ultimately lost against the Penguins.

Compare Jones’ 2015-2016 season with San Jose to Rask’s with Boston, and it looked like the Bruins made the wrong choice in net. Rask had a 2.56 GAA and .915 SV%, and the Bruins missed the playoffs.

On top of that, while Rask’s cap hit was $7 million, Jones only had a $3 million cap hit. It’s no surprise that many fans and media personalities said at the time that the Bruins made a mistake trading Jones instead of Rask.

Fast forward to now, and it’s clear that those people couldn’t have been more wrong. Rask comes off one of the best seasons of his career. He carried Boston all the way to the Final, where they ultimately fell a win short.

Rask looks even better this year. He has two shutouts already, and his GAA and SV% both lead the league.

How about Jones? Last year, he actually became a problem for the Sharks. He won 36 games in the regular season, but he didn’t even crack at .900 SV%.

Then, he was even worse in the playoffs. The Sharks made it to the Conference Finals, but that was in spite and not because of Jones. He gave up more than three goals per game, and coach Pete DeBoer had to pull him a few times.

This year hasn’t been much better for Jones and the Sharks. He currently has a 3.39 GAA and a .892 SV%, both of which aren’t good enough for any starter.  There were even talks earlier in the season that the Sharks might look to replace him.

So, no, the Bruins did not make the wrong move when they traded Jones and kept Rask. Can you imagine where they’d be now if that were the case?

Sweeney did a nice job to pry Jones away from the Kings and then use him to get another first round pick from the Sharks. Jones was nothing more than an asset or a trade chip to Boston; he never was the future starter.