Kyle Davidson wasted little time in dealing disgruntled defenseman Seth Jones, as the Chicago Blackhawks traded the veteran blueliner and a fourth-round pick to the Florida Panthers on Saturday night. In return, the Blackhawks acquired goaltender Spencer Knight and a conditional 2026 first-round pick. The Hawks will retain $2.5 million of Jones’ $9.5 million cap hit.
trade alert🔔
📰 ➡︎ https://t.co/gjN0lotc2c pic.twitter.com/c2Bkza5FTG
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) March 2, 2025
Jones, a polarizing figure among Blackhawks fans, had been vocal over the last week about his desire to play for a contender. Davidson clearly took this to heart and made quick work of pulling together a deal. Given the situation and Jones’ contract, most were not expecting for the Blackhawks to acquire a package the magnitude of Knight and a first-round pick.
Knight, a former first-round pick of the Panthers, comes to Chicago in search of a fresh start. Slotted behind future Hall of Famer Sergei Bobrovsky in Florida’s net, Knight will finally have the opportunity to establish himself as a No. 1 netminder in the NHL. The acquisition also takes significant pressure off of both Drew Commesso and Adam Gajan to become the long-term answer in net for the Blackhawks, something that cannot be overlooked in the trade.
The deal will likely create a chain reaction for the Blackhawks’ NHL goaltending situation, with Petr Mrazek and Arvid Soderblom currently on the roster, giving the team three options. Laurent Brossoit also remains a member of the organization and is under contract through next season. As such, it is likely at least one, if not two, of Mrazek, Soderblom or Brossoit will not be Blackhawks come next season.
The first-round pick further deepens Davidson’s draft capital cupboards and will allow the Blackhawks to either add another quality prospect to the system when the time comes or to use the pick as a trade chip to improve the roster in the meantime.
Jones gets his wish to head to a playoff team, and joining the defending Stanley Cup champions achieves that wish in spades. Given Florida’s depth on the back end, Jones should be allowed to properly slot in to an appropriate role, which should allow him to flourish. Given Chicago’s relatively weak blue line during Jones’ tenure as a Blackhawk, he was often over-relied upon, which exposed his deficiencies.
Jones played 259 games for the Blackhawks, tallying 32 goals and 114 assists for 146 total points with a -108 rating. Jones was initially acquired in the summer of 2021 from the Columbus Blue Jackets along with a 2021 first-round pick (Nolan Allan) and a 2022 sixth-round pick (Dominic James) in exchange for Adam Boqvist, a 2021 first-round pick (Cole Sillinger), a 2021 second-round pick (Aleksi Heimosalmi) and a 2022 first-round pick (David Jiricek).