BREAKING: Seth Jones Traded to Florida Panthers

The Seth Jones drama is over. In the span of eight days, the veteran defenseman went from making his desire for a trade public to being a former member of the Chicago Blackhawks. Multiple reports from the league’s top insiders started rolling in this evening that Jones will be headed to the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers.

According to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, the Blackhawks are sending Jones to the Panthers with a 2026 fourth-round pick for a 2026 first-round pick and goaltender Spencer Knight. The Blackhawks will retain $2.5 million of Jones’ salary for the next five years. That is roughly 26% of his salary.

Jones will be a good fit in Florida, and he could be a long-term replacement for Aaron Ekblad, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. They will be on the hook for $7 million of his salary over the next five seasons.

Spencer Knight is a former first-round pick (13^th overall) by the Panthers. His path to the NHL was made more difficult by Sergei Bobrovsky signing a seven-year deal with Florida right after he was drafted. Knight will turn 24 in April and could be the Blackhawks’ goaltender of the future. In 80 career NHL games, he is 44-24-7 with a .906 save percentage, 2.76 goals-against average, and five shutouts. It will be interesting to see how the Blackhawks handle the goaltending situation with technically four NHL netminders under contract.

Be sure you stay up to date with our Blackhawks Trade Deadline Hub.

***UPDATE***

The Blackhawks made the trade official.