Jones was a player who I had heard a lot of hype about, but after watching him over the summer and at the QMJHL Cup for Newfoundland I wasn’t exactly sold on him as a legitimate QMJHL prospect. After finally being able to isolate him in my viewings, I found out very quickly I couldn’t have been more wrong about this player. Jones was my favorite draft-eligible player to watch for the Blizzard throughout the tournament and was probably one of their more effective forwards in general. He plays a highly intelligent and detailed game as a centerman which helps him excel in all three zones. As a puck-carrier he keeps his head as he gains the offensive zone, assessing his options and consistently finding the open man to generate dangerous chances off the rush. He combined intelligent off-puck play and physicality in the offensive zone to create chance for himself and his linemates by causing turnovers on the forecheck and taking smart routes to the front of the net to jump on loose pucks as they presented themselves. He supported the puck superbly well down low in the defensive zone as a centerman, providing hiss defenseman a low option on the breakout and being there for support in case anything went awry. He may not be the most overly creative or flashy offensive threat, but his aforementioned intelligent and detailed approach to the game that was much more apparent on closer watch made me much more optimistic about his projection to the next level.

Jones’ best plays at this tournament came when he was able to pick up speed in transition with the puck on his stick. While attacking off the rush I thought he did a good job of attacking the middle of the ice and working his way into open ice in order to get shots off from up high. Jones even flashed some playmaking ability while operating at top speed by executing cross-ice feeds through traffic that lead to some dangerous scoring chances. He finished tied for the lead in scoring with 3 points in 4 games.