Sharks place Jones on waivers; hunt for 2nd goalie begins

SAN JOSE — Martin Jones’ time with the Sharks is coming to an end.

The Sharks on Tuesday placed Jones on unconditional waivers for the purpose of buying out the final three years of his contract, an unsurprising decision given the veteran goalie’s struggles in recent years and the team’s continued need to upgrade the position.

Tuesday was the final day of the NHL’s first buyout period as the NHL’s 2021-22 season officially begins on Wednesday with the start of free agency. Although it takes 24 hours for a player to clear waivers, the buyout, per CapFriendly, can still go through with the expectation that the player will clear waivers the following day.

The Sharks signed Jones to a six-year, $34.5 million contract extension in July 2017. The deal, which kicked in at the start of the 2018-2019 season, had an average annual value of $5.75 million.

The buyout would spread out two-thirds of Jones’ remaining cap hit over six years. Assuming Jones clears waivers, his cap hit to the Sharks would be reduced to just over $1.9 million next season, $2.41 million the following year, and $2.91 million in 2023-2024. From 2024 to 2027, Jones’ cap hit would be $1.66 million. The buyout will save the Sharks roughly $3.83 million in valuable salary-cap space for next season, as the team’s hunt for another goalie — either through a trade or free agency — officially gets underway.

Jones’ contract is the fourth the Sharks have bought out in the last seven years after Martin Havlat, Adam Burish, and Paul Martin all had the final years of their deals bought out in 2014, 2015, and 2018, respectively.

Jones, 31, was the NHL’s most active goalie from 2015 to 2021 as he had a regular-season record of 170121-27 in six seasons with the Sharks.

In 2016, a year after he was acquired by general manager Doug Wilson from the Boston Bruins, Jones became the only goalie to lead the team to the Stanley Cup Final. Jones started 60 playoff games for San Jose over a four-year span with a 32-27 record and a .916 save percentage.