Speculation: ‘I’m rotting away. It f— sucks’: Rangers’ Zac Jones on recent scratches

[gabevh3]

That's been an issue for a while with the Rangers.

What has

 

[Pablo El Perro]

What has

Coaches not playing young players

 

[Caps8112]

Coaches not playing young players

if your talking about Laviolette, he didnt play young players in Washington either. You can go through the threads on the caps page and see how unhappy caps fans were with him.

 

[Pablo El Perro]

if your talking about Laviolette, he didnt play young players in Washington either. You can go through the threads on the caps page and see how unhappy caps fans were with him.

I'm saying it predates Lavi with the Rangers

 

[Trxjw]

The Rangers started a rebuild, then promptly filled the roster with highly-paid veterans to block all of the kids they drafted. Not playing the kids has been the M.O. for the team with Quinn, Gallant, and now Laviolette. Those guys aren't interested in developing young talent that the next coach will benefit from. They just want to win.

Jones is definitely a victim of that. But he's also a pretty unremarkable player. He's a small defensemen who isn't elite at moving the puck and is easily out muscled by other players.

 

[Lindberg Cheese]

Jones is actually the best D in the world but no one knows it because he’s held back from being the best version of himself and from realizing his untapped human potential by the evil Illuminati that reside in an office that runs a sports team playing a children’s game - wake up everyone, it’s just this simple.

 

[PocketNines]

The Rangers' tiny, unproductive, needs-shelter defenseman sounds sad.

We have one of these guys, Scott Perunovich. He is so tough to watch, D+7 still under 100 games. He is tiny, easily outmuscled, cannot clear the zone to save his life, and you can absolutely hem the Blues in when he is out there. His attribute, offense, is almost non existent. His mistakes are many and he can't recover it's a mass scramble until another player bails him out. I can only imagine how comments from him would go down if he said something similar.

 

[Petes2424]

He’s gonna get his chance, right after Drury sends K’Andre Miller to the team he’ll thrive with for the next 5-7 years, for a middle 6 ufa to be winger who needs a change of scenery, and a 3rd round pick.

 

[gabevh3]

Coaches not playing young players

I don't think it's only in ny.

 

[quietbruinfan]

Successful coaches usually do not play younger players if they have an option. Mistakes mean losses.

 

[Oddbob]

So going by Kakko saying something, dealt immediately, Jones is sure to be gone soon.

 

[FlyguyOX]

A 3rd rounder is typically lucky to get sniff of NHL and can't be considered getting screwed over.
Kakko was projected to be a franchise forward so not the same situation.
Guys like Lavoie, Bourgault and others buried in depth may be better comparables. Most of these become available on waivers.

Jones was one of USA’s leading players when he played in the WJC. He was fantastic in college. He’s a tier above those guys

 

[CanadienShark]

Next up will be Fox demanding a trade to the New York Islanders.

 

[AlwaysSunnyInTampa]

Next up will be Fox demanding a trade to the New York Rangers.

modified slightly for accuracy

 

[TFHockey]

Successful coaches usually do not play younger players if they have an option. Mistakes mean losses.

This isn't entirely true. Good coaches put their players into positions that allow them to succeed.

A good coach inserts a young player into the line up (at least in the beginning and made after an AHL stint) in a bottom six, bottom or mid pairing, or back up role. They give them a chance to see the game, figure out the speed of it until it slows down for them. Then they move that player up into a more important role with more ice time and responsibilities.

Bad coaches rush players into roles they aren't ready for. It destroys their confidence more often than not. This can happen for a variety of reasons but boils down to not having a better choice for that slot in the lineup. So we agree on that.

Good coaches, and thus good organizations, let their players develop at a reasonable pace. This creates NHLers out of them. Failure to do this creates busts.

 

[n8]

Jones is definitely a victim of that. But he's also a pretty unremarkable player. He's a small defensemen who isn't elite at moving the puck and is easily out muscled by other players.

Agree. Point of clarification however, while not elite, he is NHL competent and an above average puck mover. He's #2/3 on the Rangers in that category after Fox duking it out with Schneider. Good breakout pass.

He is one of those defenseman that can simply dance on the blueline, skating sideways and juking defenders. Unfortunately, his shot isn't the best -- or at least his shot selection is not the best in the NHL as he typically only generates low threat shots that also don't generate rebounds. He proved to be a quite a shooter at the AHL level but -- take that for what that is.

As Trxjw said, he gets muscled off the puck on the bad side of 50%. Other NHL defenders his size have been successful so I don't know what his excuse is there. Some +10 lbs of bulk could be the difference.

If Jones was play 82 games 18 min a night, he'd easily have 30+ points.
He's a competent NHL level defender. He has particular strengths and weaknesses.
Best paired with a defensive defender.
I would not be surprised if Edmonton took of flyer on him. Zac was very good in Hartford under Knoblauch but EDM has 3 LD that would be above Zac so maybe keep an eye out if EDM suffers an injury there. Doesn't make sense right now.