Per Mollie Walker, the Rangers are discussing a Zac Jones extension with the 24 year old defenseman. Jones, who has been unfairly relegated to the press box while far more inferior players dress regularly, has previously expressed his frustration with his ice time and requested a trade. Proving he has belonged multiple times, the Rangers will likely regret trading Jones if it comes to it, though there are still many hurdles before the Zac Jones extension can even be finalized.
The hurdles, unfortunately, are still with Jones’ role. Naturally Jones wants to be a lineup regular, assuming he earns it of course. The Rangers still see him as a 7D, meaning Urho Vaakanainen would still be ahead of him in the pecking order. While nothing is set in stone, it’s safe to assume that if the conversations are happening, Mike Sullivan has at least been involved to discuss role and expectations.
On paper, Jones stands to see significant improvement in his on-ice goals for, with his actually goals-for while on the ice was far below his expected numbers. While the RAPM chart shows Vaakanainen has better overall defensive numbers, Jones’ microstats are far, far better than Vaakanainen’s. He’s a better assisting the forecheck, on zone entry defense, retrievals, gaining the zone, and basically everything when you start manually tracking puck movements.
Not only does a Zac Jones extension make perfect sense for the Rangers, allowing him to actually play makes more sense. Some of this may change in Sully’s more basic defensive zone system, but if the numbers from last year’s train wreck all around are anything to go by, Jones is the better overall player. The truth is in the numbers. But, you know, Jones is “only” 5’11, so height apparently still matters to this organization.
