This core of Trouba, Panarin, Kreider, Zibanejad, Fox, K’Andre Miller, Igor Shesterkin among some other players have been around for a long time and really laid the groundwork for the Rangers to compete for the Stanley Cup, so it would be sad to see this year being their swansong.

Jones is the clear front-runner to fill the bottom-pair void left when Erik Gustafsson signed with Detroit, and while Laviolette praised the 23-year-old's work filling in for the injured Trouba last March, the coach is stressing competition among his D corps.

New York Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said there isn't "any animosity" with management after offseason reports that the team was trying to trade him. Trouba, 30, has two years left on a seven-year contract that carries a cap hit of $8 million.