Reports confirm that the Chicago Blackhawks have traded defenseman Seth Jones and a 2026 fourth-round pick to the Florida Panthers in exchange for goaltender Spencer Knight and a 2026 first-round pick per hockey insider Frank Seravalli.
The Blackhawks didn’t have all of the leverage when they made the deal to trade the 30-year-old defensive star. Chicago was always going to have to decide between taking on some of Jones’ salary or giving up draft capital to complete a trade and hasten the team’s rebuild.
The Blackhawks are eating some of Jones’ contract.
Chicago will retain just $2.5 million for Jones over the next five seasons. Jones was signed through the 2029-2030 season at a $9.5 million AAV and was the highest-paid player on the team. According to puckpedia.com the Blackhawks now have $20,806,549 in cap space.
Trade details, per sources:
To #TimeToHunt:
D Seth Jones
2026 4th Round PickTo #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
Trading Seth Jones is best for both sides
The dealing of Jones does not come as a surprise, considering it was made public that he was seeking a trade with the deadline looming. While Jones had his moments as a Blackhawk, including being named an NHL All-Star in 2022-2023, it had been up and down for him lately in Chicago and it seems like parting ways is best for both sides.
Jones was quoted by The Athletic saying, “I think my timeline might be different than Kyle [Davidson] and Norm’s [Maciver] and the Blackhawks.” He also added he wanted to play “meaningful” games going forward and that it was nothing personal against the Blackhawks organization.
This was essentially a divorce.
While Jones has had some rough moments this season, he still is not an overall bad player and still can be a good defenseman for the Panthers. It will help that he is playing on a legit team looking to defend their Stanley Cup title. The Blackhawks can focus further on youth and using the cap they cleared in the upcoming seasons.
How Chicago Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson fared in this deal
It seems like Davidson got himself a pretty nice deal for a contract that is pretty rough and a guy who wanted out. Having a team eat much of that 9.5 million AAV over the next five years for a 30-year-old defenseman is what stands out the most. The Blackhawks were not in cap trouble, but getting a nice hunk of that money off the books further helps future flexibility.
Having what is likely a late first-rounder and a young goaltender feels like a solid sweetener for the Blackhawks. Knight, 23, despite his youth has played in 80 NHL games (70 starts) and sports a career 2.76 GAA and .906 save percentage. At age 19 in 2021 he played in two playoff games and sported a .933 save percentage over both contests. Potential future goaltender? Now is the time to find out.
Even Pete Blackburn from the What Chaos! hockey podcast said, “Unreal work from the Blackhawks” on X. The overall opinion on the trade seems favorable to the Blackhawks considering the money and circumstances of Jones in Chicago.
One of Stan Bowman’s last big moves exits
With this move, another one of the few remaining veteran pieces from the Stan Bowman era departs. After Bowman acquired him back in 2021 in what seemed like a reasonable deal, he immediately gave Jones an eight-year, $76 million extension which even for a good player like Jones seemed ludicrous.
This was one of the last major moves he made before his dismissal in October of 2021 due to the 2010 sexual assault scandal.
There are a handful of players who were acquired by Bowman left on the team, but most were drafted or acquired towards the end of his tenure and have come up to the NHL over the past few years. Connor Murphy and Tuevo Teravainen are two notables on the team that were acquired by Bowman and played in the NHL long before his dismissal in 2021.
Onward Davidson and the Blackhawks go, as well as Jones. Good luck to him.
Chicago Blackhawks exploring ways to trade 5X All-Star: Report
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