Florida Panthers acquires D Seth Jones in an exchange with the Chicago Blackhawks

Sunrise, Florida (AP) – Seth Jones wanted to join a contender. He ended up going to the champions.

The Defensor champion of the Stanley Florida Panthers Cup acquired Jones in an exchange with the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night, which led him to a selection of the fourth 2026 round for goalkeeper Spencer Knight and a first round of first round in the draft next year.

The Blackhawks are also retaining 26% of the salary of Jones, which works with approximately $ 2.5 million annually. The next Florida plays on Monday, at home against Tampa Bay Lightning.

It is another great acquisition for Florida, which already has key players such as Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Anton Lundell, Carter Verhaeghe and Gustav Forsling locked up for at least three more seasons after this, and now lands a superior defender in Jones, which is under contract until 2030.

“Seth is a veteran elite defender and a proven leader in our league,” said Bill Zito, general manager and hockey operations president for Panthers. “It has been one of the most consistent players of the last decade that serves as a reliable battle horse on both sides of the album, and will help our club to continue competing to the highest level.”

Jones, 30, was Nashville’s general selection number 4 at the 2013 entrance draft, he took two places after Florida chose Barkov, his current captain, that year. Jones was the best classified player in the list of players in North America of North America of the Central NHL in that draft, and there were many speculations that the Panthers would use the selection No. 2 that year to achieve it.

Instead, Barkov took. More than 11 years later, Jones and Barkov are now teammates.

“I have a competitive nature and I understand my parents,” Jones said that night in 2013. “Yes, you definitely want to demonstrate that they are wrong and you definitely want to show them why they should have chosen you.”

Jones went directly to the NHL after the draft, starting his career with the predators, then spent six seasons in Columbus and the last four seasons in Chicago.

The Blackhawks never arrived at the playoffs in the mandate of Jones there and are not in the containment of postseason this year, which led him to ask for an exchange approximately a week and a half ago.

“I’ve been here for the last four years, probably in the darkest times that Blackhawks have seen in a long time,” Jones said last month. “I think things are moving forward. They are advancing. But I think my timeline could be different from … the Blackhawks. “

The Blackhawks General Manager, Kyle Davidson, told Chicago Sports Network, the team’s transmission partner, Saturday night, Jones’s comments resonated and evidently helped Spark to make the agreement.

“I felt a little more urgency, I would say, once it became public,” said Davidson.

In summary, Jones wanted to join a winner and give up his non -trade clause to move to Florida. For his career, Jones has 97 goals and 335 assists in 839 games. It has not appeared in a postseason game since the bubble season in 2020.

Jones’ father, Popeye Jones, played in the NBA for 11 seasons.

“There is no easy trade, but I think we land in a great place for the organization,” said Davidson.

Knight, the general selection number 13 in the 2019 Draft outside Boston College, has been part of the Panthers for five seasons, with 44-25-7 with an average of 2.76 goals against and a. He has 12-8-1 this season as Sergei Bobrovsky’s backup with the Panthers.

“I think we are obtaining a really exciting young talent, very technically solid, a winner at all levels,” said Davidson. “We love him in the draft and he has had great success in all the places where he has been.”