Seth Jones will be joining the defending champion Florida Panthers.
The Chicago Blackhawks traded the veteran defenseman and a 2026 fourth-round pick to the Panthers for goaltender Spencer Knight and a 2026 first-round pick. Chicago will also retain $2.5 million of Jones’ $9.5 million salary for the next five seasons.
HELLO 👀
Spencer Knight and Seth Jones are swapping places! pic.twitter.com/01sxT2Mvto
— NHL (@NHL) March 2, 2025
The move comes just over a week after Jones went public with his desire to be traded by the Blackhawks ahead of this year’s trade deadline. Jones is playing in the fourth year of an eight-year, $76 million ($9.5 million AAV) contract he signed with Chicago in 2021.
“Just where I’m at, you know, 30 years old, I still have some good years ahead,” Jones told The Athletic’s Scott Powers. “I want to hope to maybe be in a situation where I’m competing for a Stanley Cup, at least playing some meaningful games in May and hopefully June. That’s where I am right now. Discussions with the agent and stuff like that have been going on. Obviously, there’s a lot of moving parts to something like this. But it is what it is, kind of, right now.”
Jones has 27 points (7g, 20a) in 42 games this season. He has averaged 24:30 of ice time per game, which ranks 12th in the NHL.
After trading Jones $2.5M retention for Knight & saving $2.5M cap hit, #Blackhawks have $5.2M Proj Cap Space; can fit $24M annual cap hit @ deadline
Used all 3 retention spots; 2 spots open up July 1 (Rantanen/McCabe)
In next 3 drafts: 5 1sts, 7 2nd'shttps://t.co/ZuJeRQq8cS
— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) March 2, 2025
Knight was Florida’s first-round pick (13th overall) from the 2019 NHL Draft. The 23-year-old netminder has played understudy to Sergei Bobrovsky for the past three seasons, posting a 12-8-1 record this year with a 2.40 goals-against average, a .907 save percentage, and two shutouts.
The former Boston College standout has one more year left on a three-year, $13.5 million extension ($4.5 million AAV), which he signed with Florida in 2022.
After acquiring Jones for Knight & adding $2.5M net annual cap hit ($625K for remainder of this year), #TimetoHunt have $138K Projected Cap Space. This can fit $630K annual cap hit at deadline.
In '25 & '26, only pick in first three rounds is '26 2ndhttps://t.co/t2ofL9TafL
— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) March 2, 2025
Florida ranks first in the Atlantic Division with a record of 37-21-3, while Chicago is battling the San Jose Sharks for the worst record in the league, sitting 17-35-7 after 59 games.
