George Richards, FHN Publisher
The NHL Trade Deadline is fast approaching, and Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones is one of the biggest names who appears to be available.
The Florida Panthers have been linked to Jones through the rumor mill, although it is going to take some serious moves to make a deal like this possible.
If it can be done at all.
Jones is not your typical NHL Trade Deadline candidate.
He signed an eight-year contract extension worth $76 million with the Blackhawks not long after being acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets in a pre-trade blockbuster in 2021.
This was the draft that Florida pulled off a deal with Buffalo for Sam Reinhart.
So, Jones is locked in with a contract that runs for five more seasons at a big cap number ($9.5 million per) — not the kind of player usually dealt at the trade deadline.
We often talk about acquiring players with term, but this is certainly out of the ordinary.
For context, Florida has two players (Sasha Barkov and Sergei Bobrovsky) making $10 million, and one (Matthew Tkachuk) making $9.5 million.
Jones’ contract runs concurrent with Barkov and Tkachuk; Bobrovsky has one year remaining on his deal.
How, then, could the Panthers pull something like this off?
We do not even know if the Panthers want to make this deal and there has been no indication from the Panthers that something is in the works.
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On his 32 Thoughts podcast which dropped Monday, Elliotte Friedman floated the idea that Jones and Florida would be a nice fit.
He prefaced his remarks by saying it was just him throwing this out there.
“Florida needs another defenseman, a right shot,” Friedman said. “They have been looking for a right-shot all year. I admit, I haven’t looked a lot into the future of how all the pieces would fit, but from a pure, hockey point of view, I wonder if Florida tries to do it.”
Jones is familiar with a number of Panthers from his Columbus days.
He was teammates with Bobrovsky, obviously, and was around Bill Zito and others within the Florida front office.
Chicago, for what it is worth, does not seem all that interested in forcing a trade.
Jones has made it pretty clear he is ready to move on from the Blackhawks as things have not worked out the way either side had hoped when Chicago made big moves in 2021 in an attempt to retool into a contender.
On Tuesday night, following a 2-1 loss in Utah, Jones again expressed his frustration with the way the Blackhawks’ season has been going.
The Blackhawks were throughly outplayed in the loss with Jones being left out on an island. He ended the game with Chicago’s only goal on a team-high 25:27; he had eight shot attempts, five hits, and four blocked shots.
“We’re the exact same team right now as we were in Game 1,” Jones said. “It’s pretty evident out there. We haven’t made any strides to be a better, more simple hockey team, and it shows. We don’t get a lot of wins because of that.”
Utah had 93 shot attempts to just 39 for the Blackhawks.
“We had no business being in that game,” Jones said.
Again, because of his contract, Jones may be stuck where he is at least for the time being.
While the salary cap is going to go up by $7.5 million next season, to be able to move Jones to a contender now, the Blackhawks would have to retain a big portion of his $9.5 million cap hit.
Chicago general manager Kyle Davidson seems reticent to retain money — the Blackhawks have one retention slot currently open — but that could just be trade deadline posturing.
Now, why would Florida be interested in such a deal and, how could they make it work?
First, Jones is a terrific, puck-moving defenseman who can play top-pairing minutes and work on the power play.
He is also a right-handed shot, something the Panthers — and just about every other team in the league — covets.
The Panthers could only fit Jones in under the salary cap this year if Tkachuk is placed on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) and remains there for the rest of the regular season.
When it comes to future salary cap implications, Florida is about $23 million under next year’s projected cap of $95.5 million.
That, of course, does not include pending free agents Sam Bennett or Aaron Ekblad — nor restricted free agents like Jesper Boqvist and Mackie Samoskevich who will come in at a much lower number than Bennett or Ekblad.
If the Panthers were to bring in Jones — let’s say at a $6.5 million cap hit with Chicago retaining $3 million — that probably means the end of Ekblad’s run with the Panthers.
Re-signing Bennett will probably cost in the $8 million range, so Jones and Bennett leave the Panthers (under this scenario) with about $9 million to fill out the rest of their lineup unless other moves were made.
Coincidentally, Florida had the opportunity to draft Jones with the No. 2 pick in 2013 but went with Barkov instead.
Had Dale Tallon taken Jones in 2013, it is unlikely he would have drafted Ekblad the following year.
The other big obstacle is what do the Panthers give up to acquire Jones?
Florida does not have any of its top three picks in the upcoming draft and would again have to dip into future stock to send to Chicago.
The Panthers farm system is not exactly flush, but they could have some pieces to move — although Chicago will probably be able to do better elsewhere.
Jones does have a full no-trade clause through the length of his contract (it runs through 2029-30) and there have been suggestions he would be open to go home to Dallas and play with the Stars.
In the end, the Panthers could probably make something work — if it wanted to.
Chicago would have to help and, again, there has been no indication it wants to do so.
Perhaps things will change before the NHL Trade Deadline hits next Friday.
One thing we know is, Jones’ contract is not changing.
Would adding Jones help the Panthers in their quest to repeat as Stanley Cup champs? He certainly does.
And that is why this trade might just have a chance to working itself out.
ON DECK: GAME No. 60
EDMONTON OILERS at FLORIDA PANTHERS