Florida Panthers acquire D Seth
Jones in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks
[March 03, 2025]
By TIM REYNOLDS
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Seth Jones wanted to join a contender. He wound
up going to the champs.
The defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers acquired Jones
in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night, landing
him and a 2026 fourth-round pick from for goaltender Spencer Knight
and a conditional first-round pick in next year's draft.
The Blackhawks also are retaining 26% of Jones’ salary, which works
out to about $2.5 million annually. Florida next plays on Monday, at
home against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
It is another huge acquisition for Florida, which already has key
players like Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Anton
Lundell, Carter Verhaeghe and Gustav Forsling locked up for at least
three more seasons after this — and now lands a top-line defenseman
in Jones, who is under contract through 2030.
"Seth is an elite veteran defenseman and a proven leader in our
league,” said Bill Zito, the general manager and president of hockey
operations for the Panthers. “He has been one of the most consistent
players of the past decade serving as a reliable workhorse on both
sides of the puck, and he will help our club continue to compete at
the highest level.”
The 30-year-old Jones was the No. 4 overall pick by Nashville in the
2013 entry draft, taken two spots after Florida chose Barkov — its
current captain — that year. Jones was the top-ranked player on the
NHL Central Scouting list of North American players in that draft,
and there was plenty of speculation that the Panthers would use the
No. 2 pick that year to get him.
They took Barkov instead. More than 11 years later, Jones and Barkov
are now teammates.
“I have a competitive nature and I get that from my parents,” Jones
said on that night in 2013. “Yeah, you definitely want to prove them
wrong and you definitely want to show them why they should have
picked you.”
Jones went right to the NHL after the draft — starting his career
with the Predators, then spending six seasons in Columbus and the
last four seasons in Chicago.
The Blackhawks never made the playoffs in Jones’ tenure there and
aren’t in postseason contention this year, which led to him asking
for a trade about a week and a half ago.
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Florida Panthers goaltender Spencer Knight (30) makes a save against
the Nashville Predators during the third period of an NHL hockey
game Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/John
Amis)
“I’ve been here the last four years, through
probably the darkest times the Blackhawks have seen in a while,”
Jones said last month. “I think things are moving up. They are
moving forward. But I think my timeline might be different than ...
the Blackhawks.”
Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson told Chicago Sports
Network, the team's broadcast partner, on Saturday night that Jones'
comments resonated and evidently helped spark getting the deal done.
“I felt a little more urgency, I would say, once that became
public,” Davidson said.
In short, Jones wanted to join a winner — and waived his no-trade
clause to move to Florida. For his career, Jones has 97 goals and
335 assists in 839 games. He hasn’t appeared in a postseason game
since the bubble season in 2020.
Jones' father, Popeye Jones, played in the NBA for 11 seasons.
“No trade’s easy, but I think we landed in a great spot for the
organization,” Davidson said.
Knight — the No. 13 overall pick in the 2019 draft out of Boston
College — has been part of the Panthers for five seasons, going
44-25-7 with a 2.76 goals-against average and a .906 save
percentage. He is 12-8-1 this season as Sergei Bobrovsky’s backup
with the Panthers.
“I think we’re getting a really exciting young talent, very
technically sound, a winner at all levels,” Davidson said. “We loved
him in the draft and he’s had great success in every place he’s
been.”
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