Chicago Blackhawks Trade Seth Jones To Florida Panthers

Chicago Blackhawks Trade Seth Jones To Florida Panthers

After making a public trade request last month, the Chicago Blackhawks have caved and traded defenseman Seth Jones to the Florida Panthers, per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. Florida will be sending young goaltender Spencer Knight to Chicago as well as a 2027 first-round pick. The Blackhawks will be retaining $2.5m of Jones’ $9.5m salary over the next five seasons. Worth noting, the pick is a 2026 but will slide to 2027 if Florida does not have the pick next season. Jones is set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2030.

Trade details, per sources:

To #TimeToHunt:
D Seth Jones
2026 4th Round Pick

To #Blackhawks:
2026 1st Round Pick
G Spencer Knight#Blackhawks retain $2.5 million on Jones for next 5 seasons.

Pick slides to 2027 if Florida doesn’t have 2026.

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) March 2, 2025

Seth Jones has played hot potato with teams over the last few seasons, having stops in Nashville and Columbus, where in the latter he also forced his way out of town. It’s clear that Jones might’ve regretted signing with Chicago in the summer of 2022. The 30-year-old Jones has seven goals and 20 assists in 42 games played this season.

For Florida, I’m not sure that I would have sent a promising goalie like Spencer Knight in a deal like this. The 23-year-old is regarded as one of the best young goaltenders in the NHL, and with Sergei Bobrovsky not getting any younger, he was the clear replacement plan. The former 13th overall pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft has played in 23 games this season, posting a 12-8-1 record with a save percentage of .907.

Trade Grades: Stars Add Mikael Granlund, Cody Ceci

I suppose this move makes sense for the Florida Panthers, as they are in win-now mode with the team being atop the Atlantic Division with 77 points through 61 games, posting a record of 37-21-3. The rebuilding Blackhawks did well here to aid the rebuild, landing a first for Seth Jones and a potential future top goaltender. The salary might age like milk for Florida, so we will have to wait and see if it makes sense.

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