A change in roles can affect a player’s morale, especially if it involves his playing time being reduced. This is the situation that New York Rangers defenseman Zac Jones finds himself in — and he’s not happy about it.
During the Rangers’ first practice of 2025 on Wednesday, Jones again was the No. 7 defenseman. Since only six defenseman typically dress, that leaves Jones on the outside looking in. Again.
It’s not the first time during his time with the Rangers that Jones has been a spare part on the blue line. He was the extra defenseman last season, though Jones did play a career-high 31 games and finished with nine points (two goals, seven assists).
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Jones didn’t hold back on his feelings about the demotion.
“It’s tough. It’s really [expletive] tough,” he told the media after practice. “I mean, I’m just generally a pretty easygoing, happy person. And no matter what is going on in my life, I’m gonna try and come to the rink with a smile on my face . . . But it [expletive] sucks. Like, there’s nothing else I can say about it.”
Rangers coach Peter Laviolette understood Jones’ frustration, but he has acknowledged that the significant roster changes in the past few weeks have forced him to make decisions that some players weren’t going to be happy with.
“You’re frustrated and wanting to play. I would expect anybody that’s out of the lineup would want to be in there,” Laviolette said. “The roster has changed on the back end. Different players bring in different things. That’s the decision that we’re at right now. It’s OK to be frustrated. Everybody wants to play,”
“We’ll just go day by day. We can only play six [defensemen] tomorrow. Pick those six, and we’ll go from there.’’
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Zac Jones on outside of Rangers’ defense rotation
Coming into this season, expectations were that Jones would have a significant role. The 24-year-old has eight points (one goal, seven assists) and is plus-2 in 26 games, and played 20 of 21 games recently. However, he was a healthy scratch in both games during the Rangers’ post-Christmas swing through Florida and in four of the past five games.
Jones had been expected to have a bigger role in the rotation following the departure of Erik Gustafsson as a free agent during the summer. Yet he lost playing time to rookie Victor Mancini earlier in the season and now was passed on the depth chart by two newcomers acquired last month — Urho Vaakanainen, who came from the Anaheim Ducks in the Jacob Trouba trade, and Will Borgen, who came in a deal that sent forward Kaapo Kakko to the Seattle Kraken.
Add the return from injury of K’Andre Miller to go along with Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren and Braden Schneider set in their roles and Jones finds himself on the outside looking in.
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Jones did address the possibility of asking for a change of scenery but said he would talk to his agent and family before approaching Rangers management.
“I’m just gonna have to talk to my agent, talk to my family, and . . . yeah, probably at some point have a conversation with [general manager Chris] Drury or Laviolette and go from there,’’ Jones said.. “I don’t have a crystal ball to tell you exactly what I’m gonna do, but we’ll see what happens.’’
Barring an injury, Jones figures to be watching from the press box again when the Rangers play their first game of 2025 against the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night.
