Rangers’ Zac Jones feels like he’s ‘rotting away’ after losing spot: ‘It f–king sucks’
No. 6 on your scorecard has become No. 7 on the defense depth chart and Zac Jones is not happy about it.
Not at all.
So when asked about this latest development in which he is set to be scratched for the fifth time in six games when the Bruins come to the Garden on Thursday, Jones took some time so that he could choose his words wisely.
These were his first words.
“It f–king sucks,” he told The Post, his voice quivering with emotion. “It f–king sucks.”
Head coach Peter Laviolette made it clear last week that his preferred top six includes both recent acquisitions Will Borgen (for Kaapo Kakko) and Urho Vaakanainen (for Jacob Trouba). The decision leaves Jones on the outside —again— after playing in 25 of the first 31 contests and getting a run of 20 out of 21 games from Nov. 3 to Dec. 17.
And while Jones’ game dipped through the last month, there is not a single Ranger — maybe with the exception of Will Cuylle — who does not fall into that category. Scratching No. 6 seems like the path of least resistance as it did when Kakko was scratched in St. Louis on Dec. 15.
“I don’t want to say that I don’t get a chance, because but it’s tough having been in that role the last two years and it’s like, I’ve got to play. It’s as simple as that,” Jones said. “I’m f–king 24 years old, it’s simple as that, and I’ve got to play, so it’s f–king really frustrating.
“Yes, there were some hiccups here and there during my stretch of games but overall I thought I was one of our better players throughout the whole thing. I mean, the team wasn’t playing well, we weren’t winning, almost nothing was going right but I don’t want to look at it like that.
“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,” said the UMass product, who has been in the organization since the final month of the 2020-21 season. “I just feel like I’m rotting away a little bit.
“And it’s tough, It’s really f—king tough. I mean, I’m not a 32-year-old guy collecting a paycheck. 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.”
Vaakanainen was on IR with an upper body issue when he was acquired in the Trouba trade on Dec. 6 and did not make his Rangers’ debut until Dec. 17. K’Andre Miller had been out of the lineup six games with an upper body injury he sustained on Dec. 11 before returning last Saturday in Tampa Bay. Borgen joined the squad on Dec. 18.
Jones can count.
“This [stretch of scratches] is kind of a surprise but at the same time it’s not,” he said. “It’s honestly nothing new, you come in with a positive mindset but you always have it in the back of your mind, I know guys are hurt, guys are coming back and that’s hard.
“You know in the back of your mind when everyone is ready it’s probably going to be you that’s out. And it’s like, no matter what you do you just feel like you’re stuck.”
Jones has been caught up ice too often during this stretch in which his team has gone 4-15 since Nov. 21. He has been on for two goals for and nine against with a 39.58 expected goal ratio. Overall, Jones has been on for 14 goals for and 11 against with an xGF of 47.13. When paired with Braden Schneider, the tandem has been on for nine goals for and five against with a 49.06 xGF.
Laviolette, who has Schneider on the third pair with Vaakanainen and Borgen on the second pair with Miller, said that he understood Jones’ frustration but, as is his nature, did not delve into the reasons for his decisions.
“That’s OK and I would expect anyone out of the lineup to be frustrated and want to be in there and play,” said the head coach. “Any messages I have for Zac, I’m not going to give them to you, I’m going to give them to Zac and talk to him directly.
“The roster has changed on the back end with different players bringing different things. That’s the decision now.”
It seems problematic for Jones to be able to carve a path to a regular spot here. It seems as if every game is a metaphorical life and death matter. Defensemen with more extensive track records are in the lineup with every game taking on the aura of a metaphorical life-and-death matter..
Chances are his best chance would come somewhere else.
“I don’t know. I don’t know,” said the defenseman, who has one goal and seven assists on the year. “I mean, we have a really good team here, we have a really good staff, there’s nothing bad about this organization.
“I just think, maybe it’s here, maybe it’s somewhere else. I wish I had a crystal ball and could tell you that.”
Jones said that he is taking it, “day by day,” and has not asked for a trade.
But maybe he just did.
