a Zac Jones report card is a little difficult to grade since he was a part time player that still managed to play more than half the season. Jones played 46 games for the Rangers last year, by far his career high of 31 set the year before. Starting the season as the Rangers’ 6D, Jones was basically forced out of the lineup once Ryan Lindgren returned from injury, only to return to the lineup after all the regular season drama. He seemed like a guy that was on the cusp, but simply couldn’t get that break.
Jones set career highs in assists (10) and points (11) in those 46 games, despite getting third pair minutes and no powerplay time. With Jones, it’s easy to say the Rangers never gave him a fair shake, but in all fairness it’s tough to get going when you’re constantly in and out of the lineup. Jones did get most of his ice time this past season with Braden Schneider, putting up somewhat decent numbers as a defense pair.
What’s interesting in Jones’ numbers, specifically with Schneider, is that Jones’ possession numbers got better without Schneider. What’s even more interesting is Jones’ second most likely pairing was with Victor Mancini, as the pair started the season together. Jones carried Mancini around the ice, with Mancini sporting a 27% shot share when away from Jones. They weren’t perfect, and Mancini showed improvement as he played, but Jones’ ability to keep Mancini afloat is understated here.
It’s a stretch to say Jones carried Schneider as well, but his possession numbers were better without Schneider. Though that becomes a relatively small sample, so we are playing with fire. Just food for thought.
The problem isn’t with the possession numbers, it’s with Jones’ microstats. I wrote in May that the Rangers would regret trading Jones, and they will probably regret letting him walk for nothing even more. Jones excelled in all the areas the Rangers struggled: zone exits, zone entry defense, zone entries, and generating overall offense. He wasn’t the smoothest defensively, but that’s why you put him with a Schneider or another defensively sound defenseman.
There’s a different universe where Lindgren wasn’t shoehorned back into the lineup and the Rangers allowed what was working for the first six games to continue to cook. (This isn’t on Lindgren, it’s on Peter Laviolette for not recognizing Lindgren couldn’t shake it as a 1LD anymore, nor should he have been rushed back.) Perhaps the Rangers, in this universe, actually have another puck mover on the blue line and start to find a better offensive rhythm at 5v5. Instead, they got chaos and drama. Jones was simply a casualty of that drama.
Will Jones be a top pairing defenseman with Buffalo? Probably not. But will he be a serviceable depth defenseman? Odds are he will be. All this while the Rangers are continually searching for real defense depth. It’s a shame, really.
Jones did everything he was asked of by the Rangers. He never fully put it together, but the numbers suggest he was far from the reason for the abysmal defense last year. Jones wasn’t the issue, but he was simply collateral damage as the Rangers rebuilt their blue line. Whether it was for the better remains to be seen.
Zac Jones report card grade: B-
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