Seth Jones made instant impact with Panthers. They expect more of him this season
Seth Jones did a lot of learning on the fly last season.
That comes with the territory of his situation.
The Florida Panthers acquired the defenseman at the trade deadline, getting him from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for goaltender Spencer Knight and a first-round pick, and knew Jones was going to be a key contributor on what eventually became a second consecutive Stanley Cup championship run.
There was no real time for an adjustment period. Jones got acclimated to the Panthers’ system through his live reps and tried to minimize the growing pains as quickly as possible.
“Really, it was more mental than actually physical,” Jones said. “Just being able to trust everyone around you and know ‘This is my guy. I’m going to stop him and not worry about anything else.’ That was the biggest hurdle.”
He overcame the hurdle well, eventually settling in on Florida’s second defense pair with Niko Mikkola and finding his stride when things mattered the most. After logging nine points and having a plus-minus rating of minus-6 in 21 regular-season games, Jones logged nine points (four goals, five assists) and had a plus-11 rating in 23 Stanley Cup playoff games while averaging a team-high 25 minutes 30 seconds of ice time per game.
Now with four months of playing with the Panthers under his belt, Jones enters his first training camp with the team and looks to carry that postseason success into his first full season with Florida.
“I’ve got a very high opinion on where he’s capable of getting to,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “He played very well in the playoffs. We will have a high expectation of how he performs in regular season this year, and we’ll push him to do that.”
That high expectation stems in part from his pedigree. Jones was the No. 4 overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft and is now entering his 13th NHL season. Like most highly drafted defensemen, the anticipation early in their careers is to be point producers. That’s how top-end blue liners tend to get noticed heading into the draft.
The Panthers stress defensive structure for all of their skaters. Continuity and comfortability helps with that transition for a newcomer.
So when Jones ultimately landed with Mikkola as his defense partner, things began to click. The duo thrived in the playoffs. In just more than 275 minutes with Mikkola and Jones together at 5-on5, the Panthers controlled 52.12% of shot attempts, outscored opponents 16-9 and had a 121-88 advantage in scoring chances.
Jones was also integral on special teams, running Florida’s top power-play unit and getting significant time on the penalty kill.
“Once the playoffs hit, I don’t know what happened, but I think I started to just trust myself in that situation a little bit more,” Jones said. “And as the playoffs went on, I felt just more and more comfortable every single day, every single game. I obviously want to be a big part of the team, but at the same time, we have a lot of great players here, and just want to do my role the best I can and however many minutes that is, just try to be perfect in that role.”
And he’s ready to do it all again. Last season not only was Jones’ first that ended as a Stanley Cup champion but his first extended playoff run during his NHL career. He made the postseason five other times — once with the Nashville Predators in 2015 and four times with the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2017-2020 — but never got out of the second round.
So to get to the Stanley Cup Final and win it all, Jones had to adapt to the short summer that followed.
“When you don’t make the playoffs, the offseason is almost five months, so it’s a whole lot different,” said Jones, who is under contract through the 2029-30 season. “Your training plan is a whole lot different. So I think coming into the summer, there’s not much time to really get bigger and stronger. You really have to focus on endurance most of the summer, just kind of staying in that game shape from what you left in late June. Had a great plan with the trainers here. I enjoyed my time here this summer, but really the last few weeks, I started skating pretty hard, but a lot of it was off the ice — quickness, agility, just keeping the feet moving, just staying explosive.”
One area where he didn’t have to adapt: Building chemistry with his teammates. Florida returns essentially its entire roster from last season’s championship team. The familiarity is there as Jones gets ready for his first full season with the Panthers.
“I was here all summer training with a few guys,” Jones said. “I just feel myself a little bit more comfortable around everybody. It feels like I’ve been here for for a lot of years, so I’m happy that everyone’s kind of back, and this case has been pretty good last few weeks.”
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