How confident are the Florida Panthers in Seth Jones long-term? ‘He can be special’
When the Florida Panthers acquired All-Star defenseman Seth Jones from the Chicago Blackhawks ahead of the trade deadline, the hope and anticipation was that they wouldn’t have to put too much pressure on him from the outset. He’d play on their second defense pairing, get some time with the second power-play unit and, relatively speaking, have a chance to ease into Florida’s system over a month and half ahead of a hopeful Stanley Cup playoff run.
How quickly things change.
Aaron Ekblad’s 20-game suspension for a failed drug test two games into Jones’ Panthers tenure rose Jones into a top-pairing role and onto the top power play. Dmitry Kulikov’s upper-body injury sustained five games after that has magnified his value even more.
Jones is certainly doing what he can with what he’s being asked to do. He has four points (two goals, two assists) over his 12 games overall with Florida. Entering the Panthers’ game Tuesday at the Montreal Canadiens that starts a four-game road trip, Jones is averaging 26:38 of ice time per game in 10 games since moving to top pairing on March 8. That’s the third most in the NHL behind only Columbus’ Zach Werenski (28:25) and Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes (27:50).
There has been inconsistency with his play to start his Panthers tenure. Jones individually and the team as a whole understood there would be a transition period. They’re fine with that, especially considering how much he’s being utilized.
But the organization’s expectations in the long run are high for Jones, who is under contract through the 2029-30 season, so they’re staying the course.
“Jonesy a year from now is going to be a dominant defenseman in this league,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “I really, truly believe that, but it’s going to take some time. We’re not disappointed by any means, it’s just our view of him is very, very high. We think he can be special.”
Jones acknowledged that there have been some growing pains. He’s learning a new system on the fly and most of the learning is coming via video and live game reps as the team’s practice schedule is sporadic this late in the season.
“We’re not going to really practice a lot, especially this team — they’ve played a lot of hockey the last two, three years going deep into the postseason,” Jones said. “So right now, it’s really just about staying fresh for the games. We’ll be doing a lot of video with all the coaches about different situations and what’s expected, and really the system. Just trying to stay within that and learn every day.”
That means relying a lot on instinct early on as he gets comfortable in what the Panthers need from him. He’s a veteran of 851 NHL games split between stints with the Nashville Predators, Columbus, Chicago and now Florida, so he’s experienced a lot of hockey.
“Game reps always help, of course, and instinct,” Jones said. “A lot of the situations I’ve seen them 1,000 times, hundreds of thousands of times probably at this point. But I think it’s just about knowing where everyone’s at and what’s expected of you on the ice so everyone can read off you.”
The losses of Ekblad and Kulikov in the short term — Ekblad is eligible to return in Game 3 of the playoffs, while the team hopes Kulikov will be back from his injury before the regular season ends — has allowed Jones to get playing time with the rest of Florida’s defensemen. He started by being paired with Niko Mikkola. Now, he’s primarily with Gustav Forsling. But there have been occasional shifts where he’s spent time with Florida’s other primary blue liners in Nate Schmidt, Uvis Balinskis and Tobias Bjornfot.
“I think I’ve had the chance to play with almost everyone at this point,” Jones said. “Sometimes the D pairs, situationally, get switched up a lot during the game. So just being comfortable with everyone, you’re really figuring out everyone’s tendencies and how they play in their style. And I think for D partners, that helps a lot.”
It also helps that the Panthers will have the opportunity to see his continued development beyond this season. Maurice keeps that in mind as he evaluates his new defenseman as he begins his Panthers stint.
“We’re very excited that he’s not a one off, just finishing the year,” Maurice said. “He’s part of our program now, a back end right hand shot that can get up the ice the way that he does. Eventually he’ll play behind [Aleksander] Barkov and [Sam] Bennett and [Matthew] Tkachuk and these guys, and we think he can be really, really lethal for us.”
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