What the Panthers are getting in Seth Jones and how the trade impacts the team
The Florida Panthers made a blockbuster trade on Saturday night, sending goaltender Spencer Knight and a conditional 2026 first-round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks for five-time All-Star defenseman Seth Jones and a 2026 fourth-round pick.
The move took care of Florida’s biggest need — adding immediate talent to its blue line — while reinforcing what was already assumed that the Panthers are all-in for their attempt to repeat as Stanley Cup champions. The Panthers (37-21-3) enter their game Monday against the Tampa Bay Lightning (35-20-4) in first place in the Atlantic Division with 21 games left to play before the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Here’s what to know about the deal and how it impacts the Panthers in the immediate and in the long-term as the team continues to evaluate options up through the league’s trade deadline at 3 p.m. Friday.
What does Seth Jones bring to the Panthers?
Jones gives the Panthers a high-end defenseman who can help out on both ends of the ice and eat big minutes.
The 30-year-old defenseman, selected fourth overall in the 2013 NHL draft (two picks after the Panthers selected Aleksander Barkov) has 97 goals and 432 points over his 12-year NHL career. He started with the Nashville Predators before being traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets midway through the 2015-16 season. He spent five-and-a-half seasons with the Blue Jackets before being dealt again, this time to the Blackhawks ahead of the 2021-22 season.
He has seven goals and 27 points through 42 games this season.
Of his 97 goals, 27 have come on the power play.
Jones has averaged 23:44 of ice time in his career, and has averaged at least 24 minutes of ice time each of the past eight seasons. He has blocked 1,400 shots and logged 980 hits.
“Seth is an elite veteran defenseman and a proven leader in our league,” Panthers president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito said in a press release announcing the deal. “He has been one of the most consistent players of the past decade serving as a reliable workhorse on both sides of the puck, and he will help our club continue to compete at the highest level.”
How much will the Panthers pay Seth Jones?
Jones is in Year 3 of an eight-year contract that has an average annual value of $9.5 million. However, the Blackhawks are retaining $2.5 million of that salary each year, so Florida is only on the hook for $7 million each season.
When will Seth Jones join the team?
Jones is expected to be in South Florida for Florida’s next game on Monday against the Lightning (7 p.m., Scripps).
Where will Seth Jones play?
With the Panthers’ top defense pairing already locked in with Gustav Forsling and Aaron Ekblad, expect Jones to play on the right side of Florida’s second pairing. Presumably, that would have him playing with Niko Mikkola who statistically has been one of the NHL’s top defensive defensemen this season and is in the midst of a breakout season offensively as well with career highs in goals (four), assists (15), points (19) and average time on ice (20:09).
That move would allow Dmitry Kulikov to shift down to Florida’s third pairing, where he would play with one of Uvis Balinskis or Nate Schmidt.
Jones presumably will also take over for Schmidt as the defenseman on Florida’s second power-play unit.
Florida will still likely roll Forsling-Ekblad and Mikkola-Kulikov as its defense pairings on the penalty kill — the Panthers did that last season even when Mikkola and Kulikov were split up at five-on-five.
What does this mean for the Panthers’ salary cap this season and long-term?
By adding Jones and dealing Knight, the Panthers take on an extra $2.5 million cap hit this season. Knight had a cap hit of $4.5 million.
At the time of the trade, that put the Panthers’ cap space at just $550,932 — or about $225,000 below a league-minimum contract.
However, the team on Sunday placed winger Matthew Tkachuk on long-term injured reserve, which opened up $9.5 million in cap space while he is on LTIR.
Long-term, the Panthers now have 15 players signed through next season, 10 signed through the 2026-27 season, eight through the 2027-28 season and seven signed through at least the 2029-30 season.
The NHL salary cap is going up significantly over the next three years, raising $7.5 million to $95.5 million next season, another $8.5 million to $104 million for the 2026-27 season, and yet another $9.5 million to $113.5 million for the 2027-28 season.
Florida right now has $75 million committed to its contracts for next season. That includes...
▪ Nine forwards in Aleksander Barkov ($10 million), Matthew Tkachuk ($9.5 million), Sam Reinhart ($8.63 million), Carter Verhaeghe ($7 million), Anton Lundell ($5 million), Evan Rodrigues ($3 million), Eetu Luostarinen ($3 million), A.J. Greer ($850,000) and Jonah Gadjovich ($775,000).
Two other forwards — Mackie Samoskevich and Jesper Boqvist — are restricted free agents, with Florida having the first opportunity to re-sign them and the chance to match an opponent’s offer sheet.
▪ Five defensemen in Jones ($7 million), Gustav Forsling ($5.75 million), Niko Mikkola ($2.5 million), Dmitry Kulikov ($1.15 million) and Uvis Balinskis ($850,000).
▪ One goaltender in Sergei Bobrovsky ($10 million).
Assuming all are still with the Panthers next season, that leaves them with about $22.5 million to cover Samoskevich’s and Boqvist’s salaries and sign at least three — and up to six — remaining players for next season.
Two key players of Florida’s core not included right now are Ekblad and second-line center Sam Bennett, both of whom are slated to become unrestricted free agents on July 1. Florida in a perfect world would like to keep both.
But considering Bennett is slated to get a serious pay bump from his current $4.425 million annual cap hit and Ekblad is making $7.5 million per year on his current contract, it might be tough to keep both and fill out the team’s final slots.
Why did Matthew Tkachuk have to go on long-term injured reserve?
Tkachuk has not played for the Panthers since NHL action resumed following the 4 Nations Face-Off after sustaining what is believed to be a groin injury during the tournament while playing for the United States.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice said Tkachuk’s injury is believed to be “near-term” and that Tkachuk will play for the team again this season.
But with their cap constraints at this point — and Florida at a minimum needing to call up a backup goaltender — the Panthers had to put Tkachuk on long-term injured reserve, which takes away his $9.5 million salary hit while he is sidelined.
A player on LTIR must stay there for either 10 games or 24 days, whichever is longer. This can be backdated to the first game the player missed. For Tkachuk, that’s Feb. 22, which would put him out through at least March 17.
By doing this, it almost assuredly means Tkachuk’s regular season is over because it would be nearly impossible to get cap compliant without trading away one of their core players — a move they could do without putting Tkachuk on LTIR — should they want Tkachuk to return before the playoffs.
Teams are allowed to be over the cap during the playoffs, meaning the Panthers would theoretically use the $9.5 million in cap relief from putting Tkachuk on LTIR to make additional moves ahead of the NHL trade deadline on Friday.
Who will be the Panthers’ backup goaltender?
In the short-term, at the very least, it will be Chris Driedger backing up Sergei Bobrovsky. The team recalled him from the Charlotte Checkers on Sunday.
However, a trade for a veteran backup on an expiring deal shouldn’t be ruled out if the Panthers put Tkachuk on LTIR.
Options on that front could include San Jose’s Alexandar Georgiev or Vitek Vanecek ($3.4 million each), Ottawa’s Anton Forsberg ($2.75 million) and Los Angeles’ David Rittich ($1 million).
This story was originally published March 2, 2025 at 6:28 AM.
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