New York Rangers defenseman Zac Jones wanted to play so badly that his frustration over not doing so boiled over in a furious rant to the media last month.
Perhaps the lesson learned for the 24-year-old, aside from not dealing with your ice-time issues through reporters, is to stay ready – because you never know when you’re going to get the opportunity you desire.
That appears to have arrived this week, with Jones likely facing the best chance of his young career to show off the full range of his skills. Star defenseman Adam Fox is on injured reserve after sustaining an upper-body injury against the Islanders on Tuesday and is expected to be out for a while. That mean the speedy, offensive-minded Jones is in line to suddenly receive key responsibility at a critical juncture of the Rangers season.
Jones’ 97 games of NHL experience over five seasons have come during shorter, fill-in stints, with time spent on the Hartford shuttle when he bounced between the AHL and NHL. No longer waivers-exempt last season, Jones remained on the Blueshirts roster as a depth player throughout 2023-24 and mostly impressed in an NHL career-high 31 games, averaging 14:38 TOI and recording nine points (one goal, eight assists) and a plus-1 rating. He filled in when Fox, Ryan Lindgren and Erik Gustafsson were injured at different points during the season.
Essentially all of that work came at even strength and on the third pair, and that’s expected to continue, since Jones teamed with Braden Schneider at practice Thursday as part of the blue-line shuffle that took place. Jones also doesn’t appear to be slated to take over Fox’s role as the point man on the top power-play unit, with coach Peter Laviolette employing a five-forward arrangement on PP1 at practice. It’s clear that the level of trust Laviolette has with other regulars just isn’t fully there regarding Jones yet.
Urho Vaakanainen moved up from the third pair to skate alongside Lindgren in Fox’s usual spot.
Zac Jones can replace some of Adam Fox’s skill set
However, with Fox going down, Jones’ skill set is going to be in demand for the Rangers. He manned one point along with K’Andre Miller on the second power-play unit, and it’s possible that group might get more man-advantage time with Fox injured.
After struggling to crack the regular lineup this season, Jones will take it. His speedy, elusive ability to create zone entry, lateral movement at the top of the zone and sneaky shot from the point allowed him to build a reputation as a dangerous PP quarterback at the University of Massachusetts and with Hartford, where he was an AHL All-Star.
The opportunity for Jones to work his way onto the top unit over the Rangers’ remaining 24 games might exist as well, especially if their power play, hardly the juggernaut of last season with a 21.1 percent conversion rate (19th overall) in 2024-25, continues to be ordinary. Will Laviolette believe enough in this relative unknown to consider such a move, if seemingly warranted?
He certainly hasn’t for much of this season, with the coach making Jones a healthy scratch for 18 straight games and 20 of 21 from Dec. 24-Feb. 4. After a two-game conditioning stint at Hartford last weekend, Jones will get his first game action with the Rangers since Feb. 7.
“Great timing – ‘Jonesy’ had gone down (to the AHL) and played I think 25, 28, 30 minutes in games, and got some game conditioning under his belt, so I though that was really good,” Laviolette said after practice Thursday. “Comes back here, he looks good in practice, and so opportunities for others to step up.”
Laviolette, who earlier this season lauded Jones’ improved battle level in his own zone, encouragingly carried more than a hint of optimism about Jones getting another shot in his voice. It’s a long way from where the player was at the depths of his long run of time in the press box..
“It’s frustrating when you think you’re doing some things well and it’s just, you just keep getting taken out, taken out, taken out,” Jones said in early January. “I just feel like I’m rotting away a little bit.
” … I’m a guy who wants to earn my paycheck. I need to play. I have things I need to improve in order to be a full-time player and that’s what I want to be, I want to be a guy who plays 82 games and be in the lineup every night. I get that there are decisions to be made but, you know, it just sucks when it’s always you.”
Laviolette understood Jones’ angst at the time.
“That’s OK and I would expect anyone out of the lineup to be frustrated and want to be in there and play,” the coach said.
Rangers need little-used Zac Jones to hit ground running for crucial week
Jones is about to be in there playing, and the Rangers need him now. The next week will go a long way toward determing whether the Blueshirts sell off attractive trade targets to contenders or decide to stay focused on making a run at a wild-card playoff berth – one still so tantalizingly close in a crowded Eastern Conference race marked by mediocrity.
The Rangers’ third-round selection in the 2019 NHL Draft isn’t Fox, or really anywhere close. He can, however, provide at least some of what was lost when Fox got hurt after being tangled up with the Islanders forward Kyle MacLean and falling to the ice in the third period Tuesday.
Fox – who Laviolette said doesn’t have a timetable for a return, though the Rangers do not believe this is a season-ending injury – left clutching his shoulder. If it does turn out to be a shoulder problem, how realistic is it that Fox will be anywhere near his usual level of effectiveness – which had dropped this season before he got hurt – if he can return at all this season?
Laviolette may be set on trying to shelter Jones as he always has, since the belief factor isn’t high enough for the coach to give him too much responsibility right away. The fact of the matter is, though, that Laviolette is going to have to take at least a small leap of faith with Jones – who has eight points (one goal, seven assists) in 28 games this season with a plus-2 rating in a career-high 16:31 of ice time – after the devastating injury to Fox.
The Rangers don’t just need Jones to play now after being used so sporadically this season. They need him to make a difference immediately, with four games remaining – all at home – before the March 7 deadline.
If Jones and his teammates aren’t able to compensate for the loss of Fox during that stretch, the young blue-liner might find himself getting extensive ice time – likely for a team that’s playing out the string and looking to next season.
