It’s appearing that the Rangers may have one of the dark horse defensemen in the NHL within their system has Zac Jones sets himself for a roster spot for this upcoming season.
Due to his solid play near the end of the regular season, the Rangers feel that he could replace Gustafsson and improve the Rangers defence core significantly with his offensive upside. His first stint with the Rangers did not go as planned as he only had one goal and one assist for 16 games in 2022-2023 and then was sent down to the Wolfpack in Hartford.
HIs play improved last year down the stretch when he showed his offensive skills by producing many scoring chances along with his excellent skating ability. He played 31 games and gave head coach Peter Laviolette a reason to keep him in the lineup for the rest of the regular season scoring two goals with seven assists.
With Gustafsson departed, this is an opportunity for Jones to show the Rangers head coaching staff that he is ready to take the step and becoming a productive member of the New York Rangers and give the defence core boost especially on the power play.
With training camps set to begin in mid-September, all members of the Rangers management team and coaching staff will get a chance to see how Jones worked on his game over the summer and see if he can earn a spot early on just prior to puck drop of game one.
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