Zach Jones entered Rangers training camp with the same goal he has had the past three seasons.
However, the situation could not be more different.
This marks the first time the Rangers haven't acquired an entirely new defenseman to directly compete with the 23-year-old for the sixth defenseman spot.
That's not to say there isn't any competition, there certainly is, especially with Chad Ruhwedel in the lead.
But all Jones has to do is reach out and grab what he's been striving for his whole life.
“This is a great opportunity for me,” Jones told The Post in the locker room at the MSG Training Center on Saturday. “All summer I was just trying to come here and play my game and prove to the coaches and staff that I can play a full 82 games. That's my goal this year, to come here and be a regular.”
“We have a really good team here and I think I can contribute a lot to this team.”
Jones told The Post last season how he had a good mindset about his role with the Rangers.
Being bounced between the AHL and NHL as a reserve skater and being sidelined most nights is something the UMass product has never experienced before and it's been an adjustment, especially coming into the 2022-23 season.
Jones eventually settled into a seventh defenseman role and spent the entirety of last season with the Blueshirts.
The defense has had some injuries, including Adam Fox missing 10 games, but Jones has filled the gap effectively whenever called upon.
“My experience last year definitely motivates me,” he said. “I want to be a guy that's available to play every game. With guys that were out for most of last year and now sitting out for health reasons, it motivates me even more. I'm in that position now, but I want to go a little bit further. I want to be in that position with these guys. I want to compete in the playoffs. So it's definitely more motivation for me.”
The Virginia native impressed then-first-year head coach Peter Laviolette so much that even after the Rangers acquired Ruhwedel before the trade deadline, Laviolette opted to continue using Jones as the seventh and defensive end.
Jones appeared in 31 games last season, recording two goals and seven assists, skating with a variety of defensive partners including Fox, Ruhwedel, Braden Schneider and Erik Gustafsson.
“I'm hoping he can get back to what he had last year,” Laviolette said of Jones. “He came in and the more he played, the better and better he seemed to get as the season went on. He played with confidence down the stretch, good skating, good puck movement, good defense.”
“I thought we got better as the season went on, so I'm looking forward to seeing our players develop internally, and training camp is where that starts.”
Jones said he was pleased with how he was able to play in 13 games late last season when Jacob Trouba was sidelined with a broken ankle.
With that as a foundation, he's prepared to go into training camp.
“I thought my skating got a lot better at the end of the year,” Jones said. “I used my feet a lot better. I was a lot more aggressive in the defensive zone, jumping up on my lunges and just playing my game again. I felt like I was back to playing my style of hockey, which was really good.”
