The NHL’s 2025-26 regular season is nearly here, and here on THN.com’s Buffalo Sabres site, we’re approaching the end of our player-by-player series in which we break down expectations for each Sabres player this coming season.
We’ve worked our way through Buffalo’s starters, including goalies, blueliners, and forwards. And in this file, we’re looking at the expectations for depth defenseman Zac Jones. The 24-year-old came to the Sabres after the New York Rangers cut him loose, but he could play a more important role in Buffalo.
That said, let’s move on to our breakdown of Jones and what’s reasonable to expect this season:
Player Name: Zac Jones
Position: Defenseman
Age: 24
2024-25 Key Statistics: 46 games, 10 assists, 11 points, 17:15 average time on ice
2025-26 Salary:$900,000
2025-26 Expectations: For the past five seasons, Jones was a spare part with the New York Rangers, appearing in approximately half the season in Manhattan last year while being a healthy scratch for most of the other games. The Rangers cut him loose in the spring, and the Sabres swooped in and signed the 24-year-old to a one-year, two-way contract.
Nothing has changed for Jones in that he’s coming into the season with no guarantee about playing time at the NHL level. The Sabres have other, more experienced hands to fill out their top-six defensemen spots, so unless Jones has a terrific pre-season and one of Buffalo’s aforementioned veteran blueliners is injured or an under-performer, Jones is going to see the inside of the press box more often than not.
Jones has shown some promise as an undersized blueliner who can pile up assists. In 2022-23, playing for the American League’s Hartford Wolf Pack, Jones generated 23 assists and 31 points in 54 games, and the season before that, he had 26 assists and 35 points in 52 games. Jones has 115 games of NHL experience to his credit, but he only put up 24 assists and 28 points in those games. So you can see why the Rangers chose not to qualify him contractually and part ways with him.
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At 24, Jones’ NHL career is not likely to be at an end. Some team is going to give him a chance to contribute in hockey’s top league, and the question is whether that team is the Sabres, or whether Western New York is but a pit stop for Jones as he bounces to another team. Given that he’s earning less than a million dollars, Jones will fit in as a depth player in many markets, so Sabres GM Kevyn Adams could hear from other teams trying to add Jones to their mix as insurance on the back end.
But that fate won’t befall Jones sooner than later. Right now, he’s got to show he can do more than he did in Manhattan. And if he can’t do that, Jones will have a ticket to Buffalo’s AHL affiliate in Rochester, N.Y..
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Jones could ultimately wind up being a tweener – too good for the AHL, and not good enough for the NHL – but he’s still got time to salvage his NHL career by being a good citizen in Buffalo and a solid influence on offense.
More patience may be what this player needs to solidify himself as a day-in, day-out NHLer. But the pressure is squarely on Jones to show he was worth Adams’ investment.