How will David Jones Affect YOUR Team?

Yesterday the news broke that David Jones, right winger for the Colorado Avalanche, had signed an extension with the team. To be completely honest with you, on a normal day during the season, this move would get very minimal media coverage and for good reason. Jones is a good depth guy that adds secondary scoring.

That's it.

However, someway, somehow the Colorado Avalanche thought it would be a good idea to sign the two time 20 goal scorer to a 4 year, $16 million contract.

Umm. What?????

That's right folks. If your favorite team comes out empty handed after the Free Agency period is over, there's more than a good chance that this signing had something to do with it.

In today's article we look at how this signing is going to affect YOUR favorite team.

More after the jump!

David Jones is not worth the money he got paid. End of story. In 2010-2011 he put up 27 goals and 18 assists for a total of 45 points. That year Jones also put up career high numbers in goals, assists and points. While those are decent stats and would be good for a fringe 2nd/3rd line hockey player, there is no evidence that he can sustain those kind of numbers.


This past season (2011-2012) Jones put up 20 goals, 17 assists for a total of 37 points. One year after his career high we already see his numbers drop. Shocking.


Here is his stat line for his three seasons with the Avs before the consecutive 20 goal seasons:


90 GP     20 G     15 A     35 Pts


Not stellar by any means. 


So we have established that his point per dollar ratio is not great. However why is this important?


Well it's simple. It completely throws off the value for free agents this off season.


Here are comparable contracts and stats to Jones' contract:
(All numbers are from the 2011-2012 season)


Drew Stafford: 20 G 30 A 50 Pts
Joe Pavelski: 30 G 31 A 61 Pts
Milan Lucic: 26 G 35 A 61 Pts
Jordan Staal: 25 G 25 A 50 Pts


All the aforementioned players will be making anywhere from $4 - $5 million next year. Not only are they putting up more points than Jones, they are players that are used in more than one dimension (penalty kill, power play, etc).


As you can see here, his relative Corsi rating is terrible. What this statistic is saying (and a big thanks to the guys over at the6thsens.com for this stat) is that when he isn't scoring goals, he doesn't do much else on the ice.


So not only is this a bad signing for the Avalanche, its repercussions will be felt across the league.


This isn't to say David Jones is a bad player. However, the contract he just signed will likely price most forwards out of your teams price range unless they have an abundance of cap space. 


The NHL is a copycat league. Teams wait on other teams to see what the dollar value of their own players are. Consider this a spike in inflation.


How much do you guys think Jones is worth? How much should he have been signed for? And what realistic off season acquisitions are you hoping your team makes this summer? 


Have at it in the comments!