PHILADELPHIA — Martin Jones flew out to the East Coast for the Sharks four-game road trip Monday. But it’s unclear whether he’ll actually see action in the team’s games against the Philadelphia Flyers, Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals.

“If I had to guess, yes,” Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer said when asked if Jones will return to the blue paint during his team’s road trip. “But that can change day to day.”

Jones appeared to suffer a lower-body injury during his shutout of the Winnipeg Jets Saturday night. As a result, Aaron Dell will open the road trip in goal at the Wells Fargo Center Tuesday, squaring off against Flyers bench boss Dave Hakstol, his head coach in college at the University of North Dakota. Get Sharks news in your inbox. Sign up now for the free Sharks Report newsletter.

The Sharks also recalled netminder Antoine Bibeau from the AHL Barracuda for the trip. Bibeau, who ranks fifth among AHL goaltenders in goals-against average (2.04) and ninth in save percentage (.925), will serve as Dell’s backup Tuesday.

Bibeau got the call because the AHL’s reigning goaltender of the year, Troy Grosenick, was yanked from Sunday’s game against the San Diego Gulls after re-aggravating an injury that will require a minor-surgical procedure. Like our Sharks Facebook page for more San Jose Sharks news, commentary and conversation.

DeBoer is grateful for the Sharks organizational depth at the goalie position.

The Pittsburgh Penguins, Montreal Canadiens and Vegas Golden Knights have all struggled to find serviceable backups this year, a position quite familiar to DeBoer, who rode Jones heavily during the 2015-16 season as Alex Stalock sputtered in the understudy role.

“You look around the league, and you see some of the teams that their starting goalie goes down and some of the struggles they’ve had. It’s a nice luxury for us,” DeBoer said. “Even the depth with Grosenick being hurt, and you can still get a quality guy like Bibeau up here, so you’re not having a kid backup.”

Dell brought his best stuff to two meetings against Hakstol’s Flyers last season, recording his first-career shutout while posting a 0.99 goals-against average and a .964 save percentage.

2. Melker Karlsson rejoins lineup.

With the integration of so many young players into the lineup, DeBoer is riding the rollercoaster of inconsistent play on a nightly basis this year. For complete Sharks coverage

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But he knows exactly what he’ll be getting from Karlsson (upper body) when he returns to the Sharks lineup after a four-game absence Tuesday: tenacity, speed, structure and versatility.

Karlsson will open the game on the Sharks fourth line, skating to the left of Danny O’Regan, opposite Joel Ward, but he can easily move up in the lineup if DeBoer is dissatisfied with the play of one of his other forwards.

Melker Karlsson is expected to rejoin #SJSharks lineup for their bout against the Philadelphia Flyers tonight pic.twitter.com/iswafiMRia — Paul Gackle (@GackleReport) November 28, 2017

DeBoer said Karlsson’s return will also give a boost to the penalty kill, which surrendered two of the six goals it has allowed since opening night during his absence last week.

“We particularly missed him on the penalty kill,” the Sharks coach said. “We gave up a couple power play goals, and a lot of that is a direct result of him being out of the lineup.”

Karlsson’s return means that Kevin Labanc will serve as a healthy scratch alongside Ryan Carpenter, who will be sent to the press box for the ninth time in 11 games.

3. DeBoer, Ken Hitchcock clash on injury disclosure.

DeBoer exchanged jabs with the Dallas Stars head coach in the media during the 2016 Western Conference Final when the latter was the bench boss of the St. Louis Blues.

The Sharks coach gave Hitchcock an extra little tap Tuesday when asked about his philosophy on injury disclosure.

Hitchcock made headlines across the league last week when he chastised NHL teams for discussing injuries with Pentagon-like secrecy.

Ken Hitchcock on the Dallas Stars revealing the exact nature of injuries. pic.twitter.com/AfwfsLy10G — Marc Antoine Godin (@MAGodin) November 21, 2017

“I think we collectively hate playing the game,” Hitchcock told reporters. “What I mean by that is we say upper body, then you go on the phone, and then you look up things or you go to the doctors, find out what part of the upper body

“Our feeling is just, tell them what the injury is and move it forward and let’s stop the dance.”

The Sharks are doing a lot of dancing this season.

They’ve been contradictory when discussing Joe Thornton’s recovery from offseason knee injury, Paul Martin’s setback from offseason ankle surgery and they declined to say whether Jones is sidelined by an upper or lower-body injury Monday, calling the ailment, “something”.

Regardless, DeBoer isn’t apologizing for clashing with Hitchcock’s approach to discussing injuries.

“Hitch can do whatever he wants, it doesn’t mean I have to agree with him,” the Sharks coach said. “I usually don’t agree with him, so…”