Pro Hockey Rumors

The Florida Panthers have acquired defenseman Seth Jones from the Chicago Blackhawks, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. The full trade sends Jones and a 2026 fourth-round pick to the Panthers for goaltender Spencer Knight and a 2026 first-round pick, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. The first-round pick will become a 2027 pick if Florida decides to trade their 2026 pick in another deal, per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. Additionally, Chicago is retaining 26.3% of Jones’ hefty $9.5MM cap hit, per Chris Johnston of The Athletic.

The Blackhawks have made the deal official.

This marks the first blockbuster deal of true Trade Deadline season. Jones has been vocal about his desire for a move in the weeks leading up to the deadline, though he never requested a formal trade. Nonetheless, Chicago will find a great match in the contending Florida Panthers. It’s not the landing spot many expected, after Jones shared publicly that he’d welcome a return to the Columbus Blue Jackets, where he previously spent six years.

Jones’ $9.5MM cap hit has stood as the barrier to any moves over the last few seasons. His presence, even at a reduced $7.0MM cap hit, will cash-strap the Panthers for the rest of the season. They now have only $629K in available deadline cap space, per PuckPedia.

Jones will be worth the investment, though. He’s been the clear-cut number-one defender in front of a rebuilding Chicago for the last four seasons. Jones confidently led all Blackhawks defenders in scoring this season, with seven goals and 27 points in 42 games. It’s his highest scoring pace since the 2021-22 campaign – his first year in Chicago – when he scored 51 points in 78 games. His totals dwindled in the ensuing two seasons, with Jones netting 37 points in 2022-23 and 31 points last year. But while his scoring captures plenty of attention, Jones’ defensive play has stood as a glaring weakness. He has a minus-18 this season – slightly worse than the minus-15 he posted last year but far improved from a minus-37 and minus-38 in his first two years as a Blackhawk. While serving as the ice time leader on a perennial bottom-team will certainly drive those numbers down, Chicago has found their best success when Jones is flanked by a defensive specialist like Alex Vlasic.

If any team can afford Jones’ all-offense, no-defense style – it’s the Florida Panthers. They ceded top-pair defender Brandon Montour to the Seattle Kraken in this year’s free agent market. That left Aaron Ekblad and Gustav Forsling standing alone on a defense that won last year’s Stanley Cup on the back of a tremendously deep blue-line. Jones could be the piece that spurs that weakness. Montour recorded a dazzling 73 points in 80 games with the 2022-23 Panthers, in a role that allowed him to drive the puck down the ice with little worry. Long-distance control and playmaking are Jones’ speciality, and what supported him to a career-high 57 points next to Zach Werenski on the 2017-18 Blue Jackets.

Chicago will find just as sweet of a match with their new additions. Knight was a premier youth hockey prospect and earned a first-round selection in the 2019 NHL Draft after two strong years with the U.S. National Team’s Development Program. He broke into the NHL two years later and quickly flashed as someone who could eventually challenge Sergei Bobrovsky’s starting role. Knight recorded a .909 save percentage and 23-9-3 record across his first 36 NHL games, and first two pro seasons.

But his play took a hard hit in the 2022-23 campaign, and Knight made the decision to enter the NHL Player’s Assistance Program in February of that year. The decision ended his season early, and the Panthers opted to deploy Knight as their AHL starter in the ensuing 2023-24 campaign. He took to the role phenomenally, recording a 25-14-5 record and .905 Sv% in 45 games with the Charlotte Checkers. That was enough to earn Knight a jump back to the NHL backup role this year, where he’s continued to perform well – with a .907 Sv% and 12-8-1 record on the year.

Knight has had an up-and-down journey through the NHL – but he’s never played poorly for more than a short stretch. In fact, he hasn’t at any point in his hockey career recorded a save percentage below .900 across a full season. In his pro career, Knight has a .906 in 80 NHL games and a .905 in 58 AHL games.

Those numbers are beyond serviceable, and the former 13th-overall draft pick will now get a chance to show he can sustain them in a starter’s role. The Blackhawks’ crease is wide open with veteran Petr Mrazek struggling to stay above water this season. Mrazek has posted a .890 Sv% and 10-19-2 record – his worst numbers since he played 18 games with the Maple Leafs in the 2021-22 season. Mrazek’s slow play has landed him in the midst of trade rumors.

Those rumors won’t be helped along by the acquisition of a new top goaltender, though the Blackhawks could afford to ease Knight into what is sure to be a bombarded role. Mrazek recorded the most losses (31) and sixth-most shots against (1,724) last season. Since Mrazek joined the Blackhawks in 2022, only one goalie with more than 100 games played has faced more shots against-per-60 – Anaheim’s John Gibson, who has faced two more shots-per-60 than Mrazek.

That’s the setup of an incredibly difficult role – one that will be hard to turn over to the technically unproven Knight. The Blackhawks find themselves dead-last in the Central Division with March rolling around. With the season already lost, and surely more deadline moves awaiting them, the Hawks could dedicate the remainder of the year towards feeling out a new look to their roster of the future. If all goes well, former top pick Knight will lead the crop in net.

Meanwhile, Florida will have to find a new man to back up Bobrovsky’s heavy utilization. Longtime NHL backup Chris Driedger has served as the most-used netminder for the AHL’s Checkers, though he’s split time with career minor leaguer Ken Appleby. Appleby has posted the better stat line of the two – with an 11-7-1 record and .908 SV% to Driedger’s 10-6-4 record and .878 SV%. They’ve played 19 and 20 games respectively. But both veterans have been outdone by second-year pro Cooper Black, who has a dazzling .921 SV% and 7-2-1 record in 10 appearances this year. The strong AHL performances are a bit of a surprise, given Black started the year with a 4-3-0 record and .886 SV% in seven ECHL games. Nonetheless, he could be the sneaky pick to earn an NHL look should Florida want to find ways to lean into their young options, rather than turning towards their pair of perennial backups.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.