Syracuse Crunch Sign Veteran Goaltender Jon Gillies to AHL Contract

Veteran goaltender Jon Gillies is back on Syracuse’s roster after the Crunch announced on March 4, 2026 that they have signed him to an AHL contract. Gillies has appeared twice for Syracuse this season, going 2-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage, numbers the club will hope translate to reliable depth down the stretch.

The team and the Orlando Solar Bears issued slightly different descriptions of the deal. The Syracuse release said Gillies was “signed to an AHL contract for the remainder of the 2025–26 season,” while the Orlando Solar Bears release stated, “The Orlando Solar Bears, ECHL affiliate of the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning, announced today the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League (AHL) have signed goaltender Jon Gillies to a one-year, AHL contract.” Both statements appear in team materials dated March 4, 2026.

Orlando’s release also supplied the bulk of Gillies’ 2025–26 workload outside Syracuse: “Gillies, 32, has appeared in 32 games with the Solar Bears this season, posting a 12-16-2 record with a 3.04 goals against average (GAA) and .900 save percentage (SV%).” That ECHL sample contrasts with his two-game AHL line and highlights why the Crunch may have wanted an experienced option ready to step in.

Gillies brings a lengthy professional résumé: Orlando reported he has “logged 273 professional games over nine seasons across the NHL, AHL, and ECHL.” TheAHL’s career ledger breaks that down further at the AHL and NHL level: “In 184 career AHL games with Tucson, Providence, Lehigh Valley, Utica and Stockton, Gillies has a record of 78-71-22 with a 2.94 GAA, a .904 save percentage and nine shutouts.” At the NHL level, TheAHL notes Gillies has made 32 appearances with Calgary, St. Louis and New Jersey, going 7-15-3 with a 3.31 GAA and an .893 SV%.

A separate AHL excerpt lists a stint with Tucson this season — 15 games, a 5-8-2 record, 3.70 GAA and an .878 SV% — though that item did not include dates in the provided material and may refer to a different portion of his recent career. The disparate season lines across Tucson, Orlando and Syracuse underscore that Gillies has moved between leagues frequently this season.

The Crunch’s decision fits within AHL roster mechanics: the Syracuse site explains that “a player signed to an AHL contract is only eligible to play in the AHL or ECHL. If the NHL affiliate wanted to call him up, he must first sign an NHL contract. Players on AHL contracts are loaned to other teams by the AHL club, as opposed to players on NHL contracts who are assigned/reassigned/recalled by the NHL team.” That means Gillies will provide organizational netminding depth but would need an NHL deal to be recalled to a parent club.

Gillies was originally a third-round pick by Calgary in the 2012 NHL Draft and has logged pro time across multiple organizations, including a past transaction noted by TheAHL in which Columbus acquired him from Arizona in exchange for a 2023 sixth-round pick and the contract of forward Jakub Voracek. Contract-term language differs between the Crunch and Orlando releases, and the exact effective dates and any financial terms were not provided in the materials released March 4, 2026. For now, Syracuse gains a 32-year-old goalie with 273 pro games and nine AHL shutouts whose immediate impact will hinge on how the club deploys him over the final weeks of the season.