Sustained NHL success eluded Zac Jones during his five-year tenure with the New York Rangers from 2020 to 2025. But that could change after the former Blueshirts defenseman — now a member of the Buffalo Sabres organization — turned heads with a stellar 2025-26 campaign in the American Hockey League.
Jones was named the Eddie Shore Award winner as the top defenseman in the AHL, the League announced Tuesday. He paced all AHL defensemen with 62 points (10 goals, 52 assists) in 60 games with the Rochester Americans, and led all skaters in assists.
.@AmerksHockey's Zac Jones has been named the winner of this year's Eddie Shore Award as @TheAHL's top defenseman for the 2025-26 season. pic.twitter.com/LYAQn1XyRI
Jones earned First Team AHL All-Star honors and became just the second defenseman in the league’s 90-year history to lead the AHL in assists, joining Craig Levie, who did so in 1980-81 with 62.
Selected by New York in the third round (No. 68 overall) of the 2019 NHL Draft, Jones played sparingly with the Rangers, recording 28 points (four goals, 24 assists) and a minus-10 rating across 115 NHL games. He appeared in a career-high 46 games in 2024-25, notching 11 points (one goal, 10 assists) and averaging 17:24 TOI
Despite a solid offensive skill set and puck-moving capabilities, the 5-foot-11, 190-pound defenseman largely struggled to earn the trust of three different coaches — David Quinn, Gerard Gallant, and Peter Laviolette — during his time in New York.
New York didn’t tender a qualifying offer to Jones last offseason, and he became an unrestricted free agent. Jones signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Sabres on July 1, and is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this coming offseason.
Jones was called up by Buffalo multiple times as a depth defenseman, though he never appeared in an NHL game with the Sabres in 2025-26. Instead, he helped Rochester clinch a postseason berth as the lowest seed in the North Division.
At exit day interviews Friday, coach Mike Sullivan highlighted puck-moving defensemen as an area of need for New York this offseason. Not long ago, Jones figured to be an intriguing option that fit the bill.
I asked Sullivan about offseason needs and he highlighted two areas:– Puck-moving D– Strengthen the bottom 6 with players who can take some of the tough assignments and special teams responsibilities off the plates of their top forwards#NYR
— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) April 17, 2026
Jones began the 2024-25 campaign as a lineup regular on the third-pair, replacing veteran blue-liner Erik Gustafsson as the Rangers looked to build on a Presidents’ Trophy-winning campaign in 2023-24. But the undersized defenseman fell out of favor with Laviolette and spent nearly half the season as a healthy scratch.
Given Sullivan’s emphasis on defensive responsibility, it’s unlikely the offensive-minded Jones would have gotten much runway with New York in 2025-26. Sullivan’s limited usage of Scott Morrow — another young, offensively talented defenseman with subpar defensive habits — even when Adam Fox missed 27 games due to a pair of injuries, suggests a similar fate for Jones, had the Rangers extended him.
Still, it’s no surprise that Sullivan highlighted the need for another puck-moving defenseman. Outside of Fox, who played to a nearly point-per-game pace in 2025-26 with 53 points (nine goals, 44 assists) in 55 games, New York lacked playmaking on the backend.
Free-agent addition Vladislav Gavrikov exploded for a career-high 14 goals — eight more than his previous best — as Fox’s partner on the top pair, but his calling card remains elite defensive play, not offense.
The Rangers need a defenseman adept at breaking the puck out of their own zone — ideally one who can fill a second-pair role next to a stay-at-home option like Will Borgen. The uncertain future of Braden Schneider only amplifies the need for an addition to New York’s top four.
Jones’ success this season, albeit in the minor leagues, is a painful reminder of the talent New York failed to develop in its own system, leaving them seeking to fill a similar role this offseason.
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