Jones is probably a 6-7M d-man at best. He's not horrible but his defensive play leaves a lot to be desired. He is an all-star for a reason. At best he's a Brian Campell.
Here's the problem as I see it--and it's pure speculation on my part.
The brass are trying to deploy him as if he was Duncan Keith. He's not. That's on them.
There are times when he seems to be a prima donna. I am guessing but I think Bowman the Beancounter all but promised that he would be the next face of the franchise, and Bowman's departure changed all of that. However, instead of taking a great leadership role and trying to rise up and prove he could be the face of the franchise, he hasn't. Thus, he might not be a good locker room guy.
He gets put into positions where he's not excelling, like the #1PP unit. Why he's still there is a mystery.
Now, to be fair, Jones has come back and been, well, Jones. Nothing he's done since coming back has been that much less than what he actually is. The issue I see is that things were working when Sorenson took over, and now they are not. So, instead of saying, 'okay, let's go back to what was working', they are square-peg-round-holing him. Maybe it was for the pageantry that was the WC, who knows. But the way I see it is that Jones, like Khabibulin, is only here for the duration because of his contract. There are better pieces to build around, like Vlassic. So the attitude should be that Jones needs to adapt to the team, and not the other way around, but the brass seem to be pussyfooting around the issue.
However, Mrazek is the true lynchpin on the demise since coming back. He's been awful. Why he hasn't been put into a #2 role until he wrests it back is beyond me. Why he wasn't pulled in the WC is beyond me. I think the brass and coaching staff have failed there and I think that the next few games will show us how deep the rot goes. Do things return to when Sorenson took over, or do they continue to look like LR's tenure?
Personally, I think it might take until the end of next season, but I think the house might need to be cleaned at this point. We need a good coach who can take the team onto the next step (probably not Sorenson nor any of the current coaching staff), and if KfC can't get that and instead wants to pull a bowman and pretend like he's the smartest guy in the room, he needs to go, too.
