Confirmed with Link: UMass LD Zac Jones to join the Rangers!

[Leetch3]

 

[patnyrnyg]

I think you are wrong. AHL/NHL is better for him than NCAA. So this is a right move. Staying in college for 1 more season is basically being pennywise, pound foolish both for him and for organization.

While the AHL is a better league than the <edit> NCAA , I unfortunately question this organization's ability to develop talent down there. Been a while since we had players play significant time in Hartford and then make an impact on the big club. Girardi, Callahan, Dubinsky? Is there someone more recent? Honestly can't think of anyone off the top of my head.

 

[patnyrnyg]

Wow, was not expecting this. Excited to see him play, I wonder who he will be playing over assuming Smith isn't traded.

Me neither. On the main board, mentioned I literally had a conversation with a friend on Sunday Night and we agreed he is likely just going to play out his 4 years at UMass and then go UFA route. Sign with a team without the defensive depth in the system the Rangers have. Then, had same conversation with co-worker yesterday morning. Maybe Jones heard what I was saying and wanted to make me look bad???? (No, I am not being serious with the last part).

 

[eco's bones]

One thing we should keep in mind about winning a championship. There are never any guarantees. That said to win a team has to put itself into position to win and having elite players is almost certainly necessary and Panarin is an elite player and Fox is certainly looking like he could be one too....and there is more potential than that in Lafreniere and Kakko. The next thing after that is surrounding those elite players with other quality players and the Rangers have certainly done that....we’re just going through the boring stage of getting the youth up to speed and sorting out who stays and who goes and a lot of people here are impatient and want everything now, now,now and I do too but it doesn’t work that way.

Even after that a lot depends on diversification and luck. You do need foot soldiers—grunt and grit workers. We’re not going to win on talent alone. We have to have those who do the unappreciated jobs that don’t always show up on the stat sheet and there is that physical component as well—Tampa didn’t get over the top with Hedman, Stamkos, Kucherov and Vasilevskiy until they bulked up with Maroon, Coleman and Goodrow with Schenn and Bogosian who are thicker than f*** on their D. These are guys who can win board battles and wear other teams down.

But then there’s luck too. Staying away from injuries particularly to key players. Goofy puck bounces that go your way particularly at the right times. Officiating and we know from Kings players running over Lundqvist in the crease a split second before the puck goes in that making a call or not can mean the difference between winning and losing a game or a series.

Talent won’t take us all the way and we need to appreciate that. Jaw dropping skills from an entire roster is 1st or 2nd round and out if you don’t have enough players who will take a hit to get the puck out of their own zone. I don’t really give a shit if the 4th line don’t score a lot if the top two lines do and the third makes a decent contribution.

 

[patnyrnyg]

Beauty! Now we just need the curse of Taylor Hall to crush the bruins

During Sunday's game, Sam and Joe mentioned the injuries on Boston's D. I was thinking, "Trade them Brendan Smith for their 1st round pick, then take the 4th play-off spot from them. PERFECT!".

 

[Off Sides]

There might be another calculation to his decision. Certainly he is aware of the plethora of young D in the organization, both here and in the pipeline. If he waited another year to sign, he would be at the bottom of the pecking order just in terms of his chance to make an impact and impression. By signing now, he has the opportunity to put himself on equal footing with the young D not here yet but on the way. If he waited, that opportunity might not be so readily available.

This is a good point, yet I think that works both ways

If the Rangers were not offering him a contract a couple months ago, what else would he say except that he is going back for another year?

If the Rangers do not offer him a contract, and by next year the Rangers added a vet LD (which is something that has been rumored on these boards by the vetted insiders), he may think he is too far down the pecking order to ever get a chance. If so at that point maybe he starts to think about not signing with the Rangers.

 

[Kovalev27]

joining the team now, ie burning the ELC year
has little to do with NYR believing Jones ie ready for NHL
its an aspect of the negotiations,
he may not get NHL games this season (Haggerty didn't)
and unless/until he proves he's ready, will spend season(s) in Hartford
the next 1 or 2 seasons he might have developed his game in Amherst,
will now happen 50 miles South on I-91 in Hartford
Jones is no younger than players drafted at 18, from CHL Major Junior, after their 2 post-draft seasons, when those usually turn pro

By all accounts he’s going right into the lineup

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

By all accounts he’s going right into the lineup

Sure. If you have the contract kick in now, why not play him? But the advantages for the Rangers by going with this construction are important as well.

 

[broadwayblue]

Still don't understand why they didn't sign him this summer. Was it really necessary to burn a year off his ELC for a dozen games in a rebuilding year? What am I missing here?

 

[nyr2k2]

By all accounts he’s going right into the lineup

I had seen conflicting reports about him playing immediately, and now this:

 

[HatTrick Swayze]

Yea, I mean there's no way I would expect him to go right in. But he is likely on the "Kravtsov plan".

 

[cwede]

Still don't understand why they didn't sign him this summer. Was it really necessary to burn a year off his ELC for a dozen games in a rebuilding year? What am I missing here?

its what the agent negotiated
its also no big deal
go ahead, roll out the arguments, that's what these boards are for,
but whether he busts or stars, it ain't no big deal, and 99% of fans won't ever bring it up again,
just us obsessives

 

[Harbour Dog]

While the AHL is a better league than the NHL, I unfortunately question this organization's ability to develop talent down there. Been a while since we had players play significant time in Hartford and then make an impact on the big club. Girardi, Callahan, Dubinsky? Is there someone more recent? Honestly can't think of anyone off the top of my head.

Sabres fan just stopping in?

 

[cwede]

By all accounts he’s going right into the lineup

we saw that Seravelli tweet

i just down put much stock in that part of it
(no more than Jones' quotes last month about returning to school)

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Still don't understand why they didn't sign him this summer. Was it really necessary to burn a year off his ELC for a dozen games in a rebuilding year? What am I missing here?

I posted this elsewhere but burning a year gives the Rangers an advantage as well. Since he will go RFA early, he will be a 10.2(c) status player and therefore not eligible for offer sheets or salary arbitration. That makes the negotiations a lot easier when his ELC is up.

Additionally, they have negotiated an ELC without performance bonuses, which this team has experienced the downsides of this past season having over 7.5% of the cap in bonuses on the team already.

 

[Anthony5967]

People saying why not wait till Summer aren't getting it. If you didn't try now, why would he sign this summer with classes beginning? He had made it clear he wanted to return to school. He won a Natty which completely changed the game. He also sees the faith NYR has in him, and not only is he getting NHL pay and bonuses at 20 years old, but he also must've been told he will play at some point before the year ends. You wait till summer and he returns to school. You wait till a year from now and he sees Lundkvist, Robertson, Schneider, he's leaving, and then those same people are ripping Gorton when he most likely is contending for a Hobey Baker.

 

[patnyrnyg]

Sabres fan just stopping in?

Do you not notice the "nyr" in my username?

 

[True Blue]

By all accounts he’s going right into the lineup

What accounts? He has skated with the big club and may get into a game or two, but I doubt that he is getting inserted fully in the midst of a playoff race.

 

[Fitzy]

Big Zac attack

 

[Anthony5967]

Jersey #?

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Jersey #?

My guess is 6, since 51 (Heatley, his fav player) is taken.

 

[ecemleafs]

Jersey #?

2.

 

[JESSEWENEEDTOCOOK]

Jersey #?

69

 

[GAGLine]

Still don't understand why they didn't sign him this summer. Was it really necessary to burn a year off his ELC for a dozen games in a rebuilding year? What am I missing here?

According to Carp, the contract doesn't include performance bonuses. That is a valuable tradeoff for a team that was over the bonus cap this year, and will be again next year.

 

[Kovalev27]

What accounts? He has skated with the big club and may get into a game or two, but I doubt that he is getting inserted fully in the midst of a playoff race.

go read the tweets from yesterday. He’ll be in there soon. Not here to watch. My guess is couple practices and he’ll be in like kravtsov