Hitmen goalie Martin Jones is still not back in the WHL from his free agent tryout with the Los Angeles Kings. He is the only WHLer on a tryout who has not been returned to junior already. In fact, pretty much the only junior-eligible players who are still at NHL camps are either 20 year old guys who aren't coming back (the Karl Alzners), or 18/19 year olds who were high draft picks and might not come back (the Luke Schenns, etc). And then there's the undrafted, unheralded Jones, who didn't even get his NHL camp invite from the Kings until August 28.
So what's Jones still doing in La-la land? The Kings cut three goalies yesterday, including organization #1 prospect Jonathan Bernier, who is going to the AHL. There are only four goalies left in the Kings' NHL camp - Jason Labarbera (former WHLer there), Erik Ersberg, Jonathan Quick, and Jones. The first three names on that list all played some minutes in the NHL last year for the Kings....Jones was a backup in the WHL. It's next to impossible to find any media coverage of Kings training camp that even mentions Jones' name, but he must be having one hell of a camp if the Kings still have him there. The NHL season starts on Saturday so by this point, anyone still left in an NHL training camp must have a pretty good shot at making the team.
Undrafted tryout players must be signed by the start of the NHL season, so Jones' picture will be a lot clearer by around noon on Saturday at the latest, I would think. By then the Kings will have to either sign him to a free agent contract, or send him back to the WHL. You don't see 18 year old tryout players earning contracts very often but perhaps this is a case in the making here....
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