Max Jones of the Edmonton Oilers is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. There is hope that Oilers General Manager Stan Bowman will act quickly to sign Jones to a one- or two-year deal worth around $1 million per year, the same amount Jones earned last season.
Why Sign Him?
Jones has played 305 regular season NHL games and is now 28 years old, yet he has never secured a stable role on a team. His career has seen him move between the AHL and NHL, with stints in Anaheim, Boston, and Edmonton, where he arrived in a trade that brought Trent Frederic to the Oilers. In his first 19-game stint with the Oilers at the end of the 2024-25 season, Jones started strong but faded quickly, playing his way out of the lineup by playoff time. He came out hitting and skating but stopped playing that high-energy game and became ineffective.
This season, however, Jones started strong and remained consistent. He was so effective that he likely would have been in the playoff lineup had he not suffered a severe groin pull at the end of the regular season. In his 21 games for the Oilers this year, Jones performed at a level that, if replicated over an 82-game season, would make him a $4 or $5 million per year player rather than a marginal $1 million player. Of course, he has never achieved that over a full season, and at his age, it is unlikely he will suddenly do so.
Physical Attributes and Performance
Jones stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 215 pounds, making him a mobile and hard-hitting forward. The Oilers could have used his forechecking abilities against Anaheim. In his 21 regular season games, Jones graded out as the second-best Oilers winger in terms of creating Grade A shots through shots, passes, screens, and hits, while minimizing mistakes that lead to Grade A shots against. Zach Hyman led with +2.3 Grade A shots per game at even strength, followed by Jones at +1.9 and Vasily Podkolzin at +1.8.
Jones achieved these numbers while playing on the third or fourth line, without the benefit of playing alongside Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl. When combining his solid offensive play in a small sample size with his high number of hits, Jones looked every bit like a real NHL power forward over a short period.
Points and Hits Rate
When equal weight is given to hits per game and points per game at even strength, among all NHL forwards who played more than 150 even-strength minutes last season, Jones ranked 12th overall in combined points/hits rate. The top 10 includes notable power forwards such as Brady Tkachuk, Parker Kelly, Lawson Crouse, Dylan Holloway, Tom Wilson, Boone Jenner, A.J. Greer, and Ivan Barbashev. However, the list also includes marginal NHLers like Sammy Blais and Stephen Halliday, who played only 172 and 193 even-strength minutes, respectively, compared to Jones's 175 minutes.
Given his strong but limited performance, the Oilers face a decision: trust that Jones can maintain this level of play or risk losing him to free agency. A short-term, low-cost contract seems a prudent move for both sides.
