With his trade request going public via Chicago reporter Ben Pope in February, Blackhawks defenceman Seth Jones jumped up the ranks of the NHL’s most eligible rearguards ahead of next week’s trade deadline.
But while the 30-year-old blue liner will certainly be a coveted trade target, he’s no rental. Jones is in the third season of the eight-year contract he signed with the Blackhawks upon landing in Chicago via trade in the summer of 2021. With a $9.5-million cap hit through 2029-30 and a full no-move clause to go with it, there’s a lot at play here — Jones has final say in where he goes, and there could be salary retention logistics to sort out, too, depending on the buyer.
That might just mean too many moving parts to get a deal done by March 7. And from where the Blackhawks sit, currently last in the Central Division for the third straight year, they’re in no rush to move him if they don’t get an offer that fits their needs.
As Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman pointed out during Friday’s edition of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast, “The Blackhawks don’t want a futures deal. They want players — youngish NHLers who can play now. They can’t be in a situation where they just don’t have players around [Connor] Bedard anymore.”
Jones stirred the pot earlier this week when he called out his squad for not showing any progress as the losses kept piling up.
“We’re the exact same team right now as we were in Game 1 (of the season),” he said.
Jones has expressed his desire to land in a market that gives him a chance to win. He’s already had glimpses of post-season hockey with both the Nashville Predators, where he played the first two and a half seasons of his career, and the Columbus Blue Jackets, where he spent nearly six seasons after being traded there in 2016. The Blackhawks haven’t made the post-season since 2019-20, and while his arrival in Chicago in 2021 suggested the club might attempt an on-the-fly rebuild with a franchise cornerstone in place on the blue line, Jones’ role (and contract) with the club never really aligned with the restoration project that went on around him.
So, while we don’t know when Jones might be moved — whether it’s a deadline blockbuster or a slow burn that takes until summer to complete — we can try to make our best guesses about where the defenceman might be off to next. Here are six potential destinations that could be interesting.
If it’s a contender Jones is looking for, he can’t go wrong with the defending Stanley Cup champs. The fit makes a ton of sense, considering the club lost right-shot puck-moving rearguard Brandon Montour in free agency last summer. But the club’s tight-to-the-cap situation (i.e., the reason they had to let Montour walk in the first place) isn’t exactly conducive to adding a $9.5-million AAV deal to the books.
Unless, of course, a certain star forward with a matching cap hit were to be deemed unfit to play the rest of the regular season, thus opening up some cap space with a stint on LTIR. While any prolonged absence for Matthew Tkachuk, who was injured during the 4 Nations Face-Off and has been ruled out at least through the weekend and most likely well beyond, is bad news for the Panthers’ stretch run, it does pose some intrigue. Add to that the fact that the team has major contract decisions on the horizon — forward Sam Bennett and longtime Panthers defenceman Aaron Ekblad are both pending unrestricted free agents — and the upcoming rise in the salary cap ceiling, and we’ve got an interesting situation to watch.
Who doesn’t love a homecoming story? That’s what a Jones-to-Dallas deal would be, considering the defenceman hails from Arlington. Bringing Jones into a situation that already boasts Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell and Thomas Harley would be a case of the rich getting richer — and while it could look a little crowded considering the club recently acquired Cody Ceci from the Sharks, there is a path here when it comes to contracts. In addition to short-term cap flexibility as a result of long-term injuries for Tyler Seguin and Heiskanen, the Stars have money coming off the books this summer with Jamie Benn, newly acquired Mikael Granlund, Matt Duchene, and Evgenii Dadonov all pending UFAs.
Columbus Blue Jackets
If not a homecoming, how about a full-circle moment? Jones played his best hockey during his six-year Blue Jackets tenure, and his departure coincided with Columbus’ roster overhaul. Now, the team is on the brink of contending again, toeing the line between claiming a surprise wild card berth and another early off-season.
While “contender” might not be the right word to describe the Blue Jackets this year, the franchise is on the rise — and might just be a perfect fit for Jones, both in terms of roster makeup and salary space. No team has more cap room than Columbus right now, and with new management and coaching staff since Jones’ last stint in Ohio — but also strong on-ice leadership still in place, headlined by fellow rearguard Zach Werensk — it’s certainly an intriguing prospect, if Jones would be willing to consider a return, of course.
-
-
Watch Hockey Central Trade Deadline on Sportsnet
Sportsnet’s hockey news breakers, analysts and reporters will have coast-to-coast coverage of all the moves made ahead of this season’s NHL trade deadline. Full coverage on March 7 begins at 10 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.
Similar to Columbus, the Utah Hockey Club is rich in cap space and young players Chicago would surely be interested in acquiring, all while appearing to be on the brink of making the playoffs. The franchise is also highly motivated to keep up the momentum of Year 1 in Salt Lake City and declare to their NHL peers that they’re ready to make a splash.
A jump to Utah would instantly make Jones the club’s highest-paid player in terms of AAV, behind fellow defenceman Mikhail Sergachev. It would also give the club a big body on the blue line and a veteran presence on a young squad. It feels like a long shot for Jones to open up his no-move clause for a team still trying to emerge from the shadow cast by its former owners in the desert, but the move would be a message-sender for both player and club.
Until we know whether or not newly acquired forward Mikko Rantanen sees himself staying in Carolina long-term, we won’t know what kind of cap space the Hurricanes are looking at — both for the remainder of this season and well beyond it.
But we do know that with turnover coming on the blue line — Dmitry Orlov and Brent Burns are both pending UFAs — the Hurricanes could be a strong fit to bring in Jones, whether as a right-shot partner for lefty Jaccob Slavin or as a second-unit d-man to give the club another puck-mover capable of eating up marathon minutes each night.
A serious question: When, in the nearly eight years since the franchise first hit the ice, have the Vegas Golden Knights not been in on a big-name player on the trade block or free agency?
While the blue line looks pretty locked up considering the core of Alex Pietrangelo, Noah Hanifin, Shea Theodore and Brayden McNabb are all under contract for the next few years, GM Kelly McCrimmon rarely misses a chance to make a splash in the name of winning. While Jones’ stock has taken a hit with Chicago, big-minute right-shot defenders will always be a hot commodity. Plugging Jones into this group could be a good recipe for a bounce-back — for both Jones and the Golden Knights, who after being ousted in Round 1 last spring are back atop the Pacific.
