Head coach Luke Richardson noticed the improvements from the 25-year-old defenseman and his help on the blue line. Not only has he been an asset on the backend, the first-year head coach has also seen some development in his puck movement and shooting abilities.
Although, Richardson states that Jones might not have the hardest slap shot, he knows that he can still get the puck in the offensive zone quickly.
"On the offensive side, he really gets pucks through quick," Richardson said. "He finds sticks like he has the last two games for goals and those are huge for us."
Being placed at the blue line, Jones attributes his defensive positioning in his point production by being able to see the open lanes better to help out the team's forwards. He also notices when he feels confident in his game, the points continue to grow.
"When I'm playing confident and I've got my game going, I'm a shooter first," Jones said. "I can find the lane pretty well from up there and kind of get it through."
The young blue liner has been averaging close to 19 minutes of ice time since to his return but also stepping up in the absence of his brother, Seth Jones. Seth was placed on injured reserve on Oct. 29 after suffering a right thumb injury.
With his 28-year-old brother out for the next few weeks, this allows Jones and others to step up and replace Seth's average time on ice of 24 minutes.
"He's a huge piece, but it's also an opportunity for everyone to step up," Jones said. "Obviously with a little more minutes, you try to take it and run with it when you get opportunities like that."
The one thing that Richardson notices between the two brothers is that they both focus more on their role of being a defender. With this mindset, it allows Caleb to be more confident in his game and build his maturity as a player.
"I think with defenseman if they consciously work on your defensive game, the other [areas] come around because you're in less defensive trouble," Richardson said. "So, that probably is helping him to be less in the D-zone and use more energy to spend in the O-zone and make fresher decisions with his mind to get quick shots through. He's doing a better job this year."
