{"id":56417,"date":"2025-08-09T07:20:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T07:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/56417\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T07:20:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T07:20:08","slug":"caleb-jones-eyeing-roster-spot-with-penguins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/56417\/","title":{"rendered":"Caleb Jones Eyeing Roster Spot With Penguins"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Penguins and GM Kyle Dubas have made a number of acquisitions since the start of free agency, but one under-the-radar move may prove impactful. On the opening day of free agency, the team agreed to terms<\/a> with left-handed defenseman Caleb Jones<\/a> on a two-year, $1.8 million deal. While the signing didn\u2019t generate much buzz, Jones could quietly become a meaningful contributor in Pittsburgh as he sets his sights on earning a spot on the team\u2019s opening night roster.<\/p>\n

As Justin Guerriero of TribLive.com<\/a> outlines, Jones is joining a franchise in the midst of a significant transition \u2014 not only will the team be adapting to new head coach Dan Muse\u2019s philosophies, but the names on the blue line have changed considerably as well. He joins newly signed defenders Parker Wotherspoon<\/a>, Alexander Alexeyev<\/a>, and a host of other options on the left side vying for a spot in the lineup.<\/p>\n

The organization is particularly thin on the left side of the blue line, with embattled veteran Ryan Graves<\/a> likely the only lock for the opening night roster. Competing for spots behind him are promising prospect Owen Pickering<\/a> and journeymen Ryan Shea<\/a> and Sebastian Aho<\/a>. While Jones admitted to not knowing much about Muse or his preferred style of play, he is confident his performance can make an impact at the NHL level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just felt like the opportunity to come to Pittsburgh and kind of be a regular guy every night and really fully be established was something too good to pass up,\u201d he said. \u201cI had a lot of communication with management and the coaches, and I just felt really good about the opportunity I was going to have. I\u2019m really excited. I think we\u2019ll have a good team, and I think it\u2019s going to be a great chance for me to come in, show what I can do and really earn a spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones, 28, has 248 games at the NHL level under his belt across seven seasons with the Edmonton Oilers, Chicago Blackhawks, and LA Kings. He appeared in six games with the Kings last season, but spent the majority of the year in the AHL with the Ontario Reign. His most extended look in the NHL came during the 2022-23 season, when he registered career highs in games played (73), points (16), penalty minutes (40), blocked shots (118), and hits (116).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Penguins and GM Kyle Dubas have made a number of acquisitions since the start of free…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[2367,49,37413,48,448,753,82],"class_list":["post-56417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-2025-free-agency","tag-ca","tag-caleb-jones","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-pittsburgh-penguins","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}