Edmonton Oilers re-sign D Caleb Jones to two-year extension

The @Edmonton Oilers have re-signed defenceman @Caleb Jones to a two-year contract extension, the club announced Wednesday.

Jones has appeared in 40 games with the club in his career scoring one goal and eight assists.

According to OilersNation’s Jason Gregor, Jones will earn an AAV of $850,000.

A 2015 fourth-round draft pick of the club, Jones has scored three assists in 23 games this year.

While Jones has been in and out of the lineup this season, there’s good reason to believe that he has earned the ability to be a full-time NHLer.

Standing at 6’1″, 194 lbs., Jones has brought a strong ability to move the puck up the ice for an Oilers backend that has sorely lacked just that.

While his underlying numbers haven’t been great in what’s a really small sample size, Jones is still a young defenceman learning the ropes of the league. There are warts to be expected from him, and that’s just a part of the adjustment.

Edmonton will be a better team — and Jones a better player — in the long run for having the ability to feel out the NHL game the way he has.

At only $850,000 for two years, the Oilers get Jones on a very affordable deal to play what will likely be bottom-four minutes for the Oilers. If Edmonton has hopes of making a run into the playoffs, they are going to need players on cheap deals like this.

Edmonton has had a tough time at recruiting strong players to play for under a million, and this could be a contract that sees Jones play above what he earned.

The proof will be in the pudding two years from now, but it’s hard to chalk this deal up to anything but a win.

On Twitter: @zjlaing