Former Avalanche defenseman Caleb Jones is back on waivers, and this time Pittsburgh is trying to send him to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
The Penguins placed the 29-year-old on waivers Saturday with the intention of reassigning him, keeping alive a rocky stretch that has left his NHL future hanging by a thread. Jones, the younger brother of Stanley Cup champion Seth Jones, has played only 13 NHL games across the last two seasons, with that total split between the Los Angeles Kings and Penguins. He skated in seven games for Pittsburgh last season and finished with one assist.
Jones’ career has taken him through several organizations since the Edmonton Oilers drafted him in the fourth round in 2015. He worked his way through the Western Hockey League and AHL before making his NHL debut with Edmonton against the Philadelphia Flyers in December 2018. Edmonton later traded him to the Chicago Blackhawks in 2021 as part of the Duncan Keith deal.
After two seasons in Chicago, Jones signed with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2023, but he never appeared in a regular-season game for them. Carolina then moved him to Colorado on Oct. 10, 2023, in exchange for forward Callahan Burke. Jones had already been assigned to the Colorado Eagles, and he eventually worked his way into the Avalanche lineup.
His lone season in burgundy and blue came in 2023-24, when he played 25 games for Colorado and had five assists.
Jones left the Avalanche as a free agent the following summer and signed with the Kings. In 2024-25, he appeared in six NHL games for Los Angeles, did not score, and spent most of the year with the Ontario Reign.
Pittsburgh gave him another shot in July 2025, signing him to a two-year, $1.8 million contract. That move has not gone smoothly.
In February 2026, Jones was suspended for 20 games without pay for violating the NHL and NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program. Since then, he has moved back and forth between Pittsburgh and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Now, he’s headed toward another AHL assignment, and another uncertain turn in a career that has stalled out after once looking like it might find some traction.
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The bet, of course, is that his aggression can be harnessed rather than repeated history getting in the way. Colorado is looking for him to grow into a steady NHL role, one that brings reliable effort at both ends and gives the lineup some useful muscle, but the challenge is turning that physical style into an asset the Avalanche can count on when the pressure rises. [Read more 🡒]