At David Jones' peak production, he scored 27 goals and 45 points in 77 games (he's never been able to play a full 82 game season). That's about 0.58 PPG and totally in line with what other players who make $4 million are getting. His career totals put him at 0.45 PPG. Here are the numbers for other players at the $4 million mark and around 30 years of age (Jones is 30 for reference).
Ales Hemsky: Age 31. Career average=0.72 PPG
P.A. Parenteau: Age 31. Career average=0.69 PPG
Jussi Jokinen: Age 31. Career average=0.63 PPG
Milan Michalek: Age 29. Career average=0.62 PPG (and he played with Thornton)
Drew Stafford: Age 29. Career average=0.58 PPG
Brandon Dubinsky: Age 28. Career average=0.57 PPG
Jiri Hudler: Age 30. Career average=0.57 PPG
Nikolay Kulemin: Age 28. Career average=0.46 PPG
David Jones: Age 30. Career average=0.45 PPG
Benoit Pouliot: Age 28. Career average=0.44 PPG
Brian Bickell: Age 28. Career average=0.37 PPG
David Jones doesn't even have the skill set of the top half of the list. His direct comparables are Kulemin and Pouliot, and I think he comes out just fine in that scenario.
Jones is a guy that definitely overproduced in a couple years, but watching him play and knowing what he does well, if he were ever to stay healthy he would easily be in the 15-20 goal range and probably about 40 points. For his salary, it's pretty fair value, especially when you're seeing Subban's $9 million and David Krejci's $7.25 million handed out. A year or two ago, Jones would be overpaid. Now? not so much.
So yeah, I'm bored of the rhetoric that Jones is an overpaid bum. He's really not.
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"You know, that's kinda why I came here, to show that I don't suck that much" ~ Devin Cooley, Professional Goaltender
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