ANAHEIM, Calif. — When Seth Jones first told the Sun-Times on Feb. 19 that he was interested in a trade, he acknowledged he had no idea whether he would remain on the Blackhawks for two more weeks or five more years.
As it turns out, Jones didn’t even last two weeks.
The Hawks traded the star defenseman to the Panthers in a Saturday night blockbuster for young goalie Spencer Knight and a first-round pick in 2026 or 2027, per multiple reports.
The Hawks retained $2.5 million of Jones’ exorbitant salary-cap hit through 2030, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported. That’s surely not something general manager Kyle Davidson was excited to do, but it was likely necessary to make a trade possible.
The return, however, is better than expected and should be seen as a win for Davidson. The first-round pick is a notable asset, even if it is a few years away, and Knight is a potential immediate building block.
The 13th overall pick in 2019 who will turn 24 in April, Knight’s career hasn’t been the smoothest so far, but it’s very common for goalies to take longer than other players to reach their ceilings — and it’s not like he has struggled, either. He has posted a .906 save percentage in 80 career NHL games, including a .907 in 23 games this season.
Jones finishes his four-year Hawks tenure with 146 points in 259 games, averaging more than 24 minutes of ice time per game in all four seasons. Without him, the team will at least temporarily turn to Alex Vlasic as their No. 1 defenseman, but that will be a hole to address moving forward.
The Panthers have top defenseman Aaron Ekblad staring down free agency this summer, and acquiring Jones loads them up for their 2025 playoff run and provides a long-term, locked-in replacement for Ekblad. Interestingly, Ekblad could now become a high-priority free-agent target for the Hawks.
This story will be updated.