By Chris Johnston, Mark Lazerus and Scott PowersÂ
Seth Jones wanted out, and it didn’t take long for the Blackhawks to grant his wish.
Chicago dealt the veteran defenseman to the Florida Panthers on Saturday night in exchange for a conditional 2026 first-round pick and goaltender Spencer Knights. The Blackhawks also sent a 2026 fourth-rounder to Florida, and will retain about $2.5 million of Jones’ $9.5-million cap hit for the next five seasons. The 2026 first-rounder going to Chicago will become a 2027 first-rounder if the Panthers don’t have a first-round pick in 2026 (which they currently do not).
Jones went public with his trade request last week in hopes of expediting the process. Jones signed a massive eight-year extension immediately upon engineering a trade to Chicago in the summer of 2021, thinking the Blackhawks were in win-now mode. But a brutal start to the season and the ouster of then-general manager Stan Bowman led to a complete reversal in the Blackhawks’ plans.
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NHL trade grades: Blackhawks grant Seth Jones’ trade wishes as Panthers press on
New general manager Kyle Davidson came in and immediately started tearing the roster down to the studs for a lengthy rebuild. The losing wore Jones down enough that he finally asked out, saying he wanted to compete for the Stanley Cup, and that his window and the Blackhawks’ simply didn’t line up.
Davidson was able to unload Jones’ contract without having to retain too much of it, and hopes to have landed his future No. 1 goaltender in the process.
“I think we really solidified the future of our goaltending position, gained some more draft capital that we can use on the market,” Davidson told The Athletic. “We made sure to find a home for Seth that accomplished kind of what he was looking for, that he expressed last week to go to a contender. It feels like we checked a number of boxes. Got some young talent, got some draft capital and found a new home for Seth.”
Jones has had an up-and-down season, but led the Blackhawks in ice time and has seven goals and 20 assists in 42 games, having missed time in November and December with a foot injury.
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Kyle Davidson explains Blackhawks’ Seth Jones trade
How does Jones fit in Florida?
Jones might not be the No. 1 defenseman he once was, or is paid like. But he’s still a big, rangy, smooth-skating, minutes-eating blue-liner with excellent offensive instincts. Florida already has a No. 1 in Gustav Forsling. The Panthers have a No. 2, too, in Aaron Ekblad. As a No. 3, and at a more reasonable $7 million cap hit, the entire narrative around Jones changes. Few teams can claim a No. 3 as good as Jones, and on a much better team with much better structure and much better goaltending, Jones will look a lot closer to the Jones of old. And with Ekblad a pending unrestricted free agent and his $7.5-million cap hit potentially coming off the books, Jones can adequately step into that No. 2 role next season, if need be. The rich get richer. — Mark Lazerus, Blackhawks beat writer
Chicago will turn to youth in final weeks of season
In the short term, the Blackhawks are considerably worse without Jones. Young defensemen such as Nolan Allan and Louis Crevier — and perhaps first-rounders Kevin Korchinski and even Artyom Levshunov — will get an opportunity to fill that very large void over the last six weeks of the season. That’ll make the Blackhawks a little more interesting, but probably a lot worse than they already are (which is saying something).
The Blackhawks didn’t want to trade Jones. Not yet, anyway. He ate up a lot of minutes. He played a significant role in Alex Vlasic coming into his own last season. And he helped the Blackhawks get to the salary floor. He wasn’t blocking anyone, he wasn’t hamstringing Davidson’s ability to spend in free agency. But Jones wanted out, and Davidson had little choice but to oblige. The 32nd-place San Jose Sharks are just two points behind Chicago in the standings, and the best odds at another No. 1 overall pick are very much in reach. — Lazerus
What will the Blackhawks do with all that cap space?
Oddly enough, for all the hand-wringing over Jones’ cap hit, the Blackhawks benefitted from the overpayment. They’re not spending anywhere near the cap at this stage of the rebuild, and Jones’ $9.5 million helped them get to the salary floor. Knight’s $4.5-million cap hit will offset some of the difference, and it seems inevitable that one or both of Petr Mrázek and Laurent Brossoit will be bought out or somehow moved out, which might take care of the rest.
A 2025-26 tandem of Knight and Arvid Söderblom is a very promising one for Chicago. But one way or another, Davidson is going to have to spend some money this summer. He came up short in his pursuit of Jake Guentzel last summer, and had to settle for (and overpay, and over-term) Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teräväinen instead.
This summer, he’ll surely have his eye on Mikko Rantanen or Mitch Marner as the next right wing for Connor Bedard if either gets to free agency. He’ll certainly have plenty of money to play with. But will either want to join a team that’s this bare-bones? — Lazerus
Required reading
(Photo: David Banks / Imagn Images)
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