Caleb Jones spent three seasons trying to establish himself as an NHL player, then three more as a full-time guy in the league with no more AHL bus rides or shuttling back and forth between two teams.
Then he had to start this season back in the AHL with the Colorado Eagles, first as a member of the Hurricanes and then with the Avalanche because Carolina doesn’t have its own affiliate. So when Jones joined the Avs and played well in his first couple of games, he had to feel pretty good about life in general.
Trying to fit in with a new team and play well enough to stick around is hard enough, but the hockey gods gave Jones a little extra bit of adversity to deal with last week at an Avalanche practice … and he is currently sporting a rather robust black eye as a reminder.
“Just a stick to the face,” Jones said. “It ended up doing a lot more damage than I thought it would. It definitely hurt. I think it looks pretty cool, so I’ll take advantage of that.”
The freak accident and subsequent damage has not kept Jones out of the lineup. And his play on the ice is helping him stay in it.
Jones is expected to dress for a fifth straight game Wednesday night when the Avs welcome the Vancouver Canucks to Ball Arena. The Avalanche started the season with six defensemen on the roster, but injuries to Josh Manson and now Samuel Girard provided an opening. Girard will also miss a second straight game for personal reasons against the Canucks.
“There’s no big, major mistakes that are leading to great scoring chances against, so there’s one check on the plus side when it comes to his defending,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “The way he can move, skate, the ability to kind of break us in and out of the zone and still be part of it up the ice – I think we are just sort of scratching the surface with that, but it’s involved and it’s helpful.
“He’s got a good shot and every game he seems to make a play or two whether it’s through the neutral zone or in the offensive zone that helps us create or sustain plays. I see him as a 200-foot guy that can both defend and still help (on offense).”
Jones began the season with the Hurricanes and was loaned to the Eagles, but on Oct. 10 the Avalanche traded Callahan Burke to Carolina for him. The quirk in the trade was that both players were on the Eagles, so they didn’t have to move to a new city.
The loan to the Eagles was fortuitous for the Jones family, because Caleb’s father, Popeye, is an assistant coach with the Nuggets. Caleb also spent part of his childhood here. He started his hockey career here, first with the Littleton Hawks and then the Colorado Thunderbirds before moving to Dallas where he and his older brother, Seth, became NHL prospects.
Now that Caleb is with the Avs, father and son share an arena, but not the same schedule.
“I’ve gotten to his house for dinner,” the younger Jones said. “He caught my game here (when Popeye was shown on the scoreboard), and he’s been to some of my games with the Eagles. Obviously with the schedule, it is chaotic, but we’ve tried to get together every once in a while.”
Jones is not a traditional AHL callup. He had 217 NHL games on his resume with Chicago and Edmonton before this season. A younger player might join the NHL club, have a great game or two and then struggle to settle in and perform consistently.
Bednar said he expects more from Jones than a typical call-up, in part because of his experience.
“At first, it feels like you’re a call-up,” Jones said. “There’s meeting the guys and all that. I didn’t get training camp here. (Joel Kiviranta) at least had that, so I think he felt a little more comfortable. Everything was just brand new for me. But I’ve played over 200 games in the NHL, so it’s not coming up all bright-eyed and new and making rookie mistakes.
“I know what my game is, and I think I can help this team. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
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