It would be difficult to find another recent NHL trade that worked out worse for all parties than the Blackhawks‘ acquisition of Seth Jones from the Blue Jackets in 2021.
The move flopped for the Hawks in the short term and set their rebuild back in the long term. Hawks fans vented their anger on Jones throughout his tenure — because he was present in front of them — but the real subject of it was former general manager Stan Bowman, as the Jones trade and all of his other terrible decisions of summer 2021 permanently destroyed his Hawks legacy.
It led to four years of individual frustration for Jones, who pushed for the trade to the Hawks at the time and then pushed through another trade to the Panthers on Saturday, making clear his Chicago experience didn’t remotely live up to expectations. This spring, he’ll participate in non-bubble playoffs for the first time since 2019.
And it didn’t yield all that much for the Jackets, either. Neither David Jiricek, whom they drafted with the Hawks’ 2022 first-round pick, nor trade centerpiece Adam Boqvist remain in their organization. Cole Sillinger, whom they drafted with the Hawks’ 2021 first-round pick, has turned into a fine but unremarkable player.
Oddly enough, even after trading Jones, the Hawks have more players left from the trade (Nolan Allan and prospect Dominic James, both of whom were drafted with Jackets picks) than the Jackets do.
Seth Jones is “very happy” about going to Florida, per source.
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) March 2, 2025
The retrospective analysis is interesting but largely irrelevant now, though, as the Jackets try to complete their inspiring 2024-25 underdog story with a wild-card berth and the Hawks seek to begin climbing out of their unprecedentedly deep rebuild. Times have changed quite a bit since 2021.
Current Hawks GM Kyle Davidson did well Saturday to get a promising goalie in Spencer Knight and a first-round pick, especially considering how hamstrung he was by Jones’ no-movement clause and onerous salary-cap hit. Knight’s arrival creates a temporary goalie logjam, but his first Hawks start this week — perhaps as soon as Monday against the Kings — warrants genuine anticipation.
There have been several major moves in recent years that have created a sense of the Hawks being Davidson’s team now, but this might mark the last such instance.
Jones, after all, was the last key link to the Bowman era. Tons of current Hawks prospects were admittedly drafted by Bowman, but only two guys who played NHL games under him — Connor Murphy and Philipp Kurashev — remain, and Kurashev won’t be around much longer.
The Oilers are actually Bowman’s team now, since they made the unsurprising yet perplexing decision to hire him as their new GM last summer. The Hawks, meanwhile, are thoroughly Davidson’s team.
And now it’s time for Davidson to make his team a real team — an ascending, competitive team — as soon as possible.
Sans Jones, the Hawks’ already abundant cap space has entered the stratosphere. For 2025-26, they currently have $56.7 million in committed salary (a number that could decrease further after T.J. Brodie and perhaps others are bought out) and $38.8 million in available space — the fifth-most in the league, per PuckPedia.
For 2026-27, when Connor Bedard’s second contract will kick in, they currently have $18.9 million in committed salary and a whopping $85.1 million in available space — the most in the league. It’s basically a blank slate.
That means Davidson has an urgent need to bring established talent into the Hawks — to supplement their youth movement, which remains the crux of his plan — and all the money imaginable to do so.
He shouldn’t be reckless just because he can afford to be, of course. And convincing top free agents — like Mitch Marner, Mikko Rantanen and Aaron Ekblad this summer — to come to the Hawks won’t be easy. But the window couldn’t possibly be more wide open.