The Athletic has live coverage of the 2025 NHL trade deadline.
By Mark Lazerus, Sean Gentille and Harman Dayal
The trade
Florida Panthers get: D Seth Jones
Chicago Blackhawks get: G Spencer Knight, 2027 first-round pick
Chicago retains $2.5 million of Jones’ $9.5 million contract per season.
Mark Lazerus: Seth Jones is a good player. It feels a little silly to have to say that, but bad contract does not mean bad player. Jones has been on a spectacularly awful Chicago Blackhawks team for the last four seasons, so his numbers won’t look good. But he plays a ton of minutes and (usually) plays them pretty well. He can run a power play (preferably a second unit, if we’re being honest) and he still has a big shot and excellent offensive instincts.
The problem is Jones is paid like a No. 1 when he’s more of a good No. 2 or a great No. 3. On Florida, he can be a great No. 3 behind Gustav Forsling and Aaron Ekblad. Not only that, but he’ll do it at a far more reasonable cap hit of around $7 million. That’s a lot closer to what he’s actually worth. Even the most ardent Jones detractors (and they appear to be legion) have to tip their hats to Florida GM Bill Zito, who continues to show you can build great teams through creative trades, free agency and the waiver wire. Jones wanted to play for a contender, and he certainly will in South Florida, likely for all five years remaining on his contract.
Then we have the Blackhawks, who are trying to prove you actually can build a contender almost exclusively through the draft (narrator: It’s not going well). Adding yet another first-round pick to the pile — they’ve had eight in the past three drafts, and have two more coming this summer — is nice, but that pick will come in a year or two, will surely be late in the round, and probably won’t be seen in a Blackhawks sweater until perhaps 2030. Hard to get too excited about that.
Kyle Davidson explains Blackhawks’ Seth Jones trade
But Jones forced the Blackhawks’ hand. He wanted out, and he went public with it. Had this dragged on to the summer, or even into next season, it could have gotten ugly. Davidson did what he could and at least he did it quickly. And retaining just $2.5 million of Jones’ $9.5 million cap hit over the next five years is an unequivocal win for the Blackhawks, who won’t be spending to the cap any time soon, anyway.
It’s the Spencer Knight part of the deal that’s most interesting. The Blackhawks have goalies Petr Mrázek and Laurent Brossoit signed through next season. Knight is signed through next season. And Arvid Söderblom has been by far their best goalie this season, and has shown flashes of being a future No. 1. Brossoit has been hurt all year and Mrázek has crashed down to Earth after an excellent 2023-24 season. Will there be a buyout? Two? Will the Blackhawks carry three goalies for the rest of the season? Is Söderblom-Knight the Blackhawks’ tandem of the future?
The big move is out of the way, but Davidson’s work is just getting started.
Blackhawks grade: C
Panthers grade: B
Sean Gentille: Sometimes, deals like this one just fall into place. Matthew Tkachuk’s groin injury — he’s out long-term, Paul Maurice said earlier this week — all but guaranteed that the Panthers would have the cap space necessary to go big-game hunting.
They’re in the Cup-lifting business, as Zito has shown time and again, and they can certainly lock down a playoff spot while Tkachuk is on the mend. Great as we know the defending champs to be, though, they’re not perfect. Why not use Tkachuk’s LTIR exemption to its full capacity? Why not use it to do something bold?
Around the same time as the Tkachuk diagnosis rolled in, Jones — in a fashion that was diplomatic and forceful in equal parts — hit the eject button. He wanted out. And all of a sudden, a very expensive, highly competent defenseman was on the market. Guess who needed one of those guys? Funny how things work.
With the Panthers, he’ll be part of the engine. He doesn’t need to be the gas tank, the radiator and three of the wheels. He can do what he’s best at — retrieving pucks, playing huge minutes, starting the rush — with better teammates against easier competition. Given that his biggest issues were the quality of his teammates and the quality of his competition, that makes a ton of sense.
It’s not a perfect deal for the Panthers, though. Jones is still 30, with some major miles on the odometer, and he makes their short- and long-term cap situation even more complicated. Maybe this means they have to say goodbye to Ekblad in the summer; maybe it costs them Sam Bennett. But these are the defending champs, and they just filled a Seth Jones-sized hole in their lineup with Seth Jones. Worry about that later, though. Chase Cups now.
All that might seem like prologue to torching the Blackhawks. It’s not. I like this deal for them; the 25 percent retention mattered for the Panthers, but it doesn’t matter for Chicago. Knight, difficult as the last couple years has been, remains a potential starting goaltender. First-round picks are valuable. Jones, meanwhile, wasn’t a simple fit … anywhere, really. Including Chicago. And while that doesn’t bode well for the next couple years of the Blackhawks’ life cycle, it’s reality, and they dealt with it reasonably.
Panthers grade: B+
Blackhawks grade: B-
Harman Dayal: This could easily be a win-win for both sides.
This had the potential to drag out into an awkward, ugly saga. Instead, the Blackhawks found a swift solution and got a couple of intriguing pieces.
Knight is enjoying a breakout season where he’s notched a .907 save percentage and saved 9.1 goals above expected in 23 games as the No. 2 behind Sergei Bobrovsky. It’s easy to forget because he broke into the NHL so early, but Knight is only 23 (he’s three days younger than Flames rookie Dustin Wolf, for context). Goalies are volatile and hard to project, but Knight’s pedigree (No. 13 pick in 2019) and major step this season give him the upside to develop into a legitimate NHL starter.
Landing a first-round pick on top of Knight is impressive work.
At first glance, this is a high-risk, high-reward swing for the Panthers. Sergei Bobrovsky led the Panthers to a Cup just last year, so they’re OK in net for now, but he’s 36 and will be a free agent at the end of 2025-26. Knight could have been Florida’s goalie of the future — losing him definitely stings a lot.
With that said, the Panthers also desperately needed more help on the blue line. Their bottom-four defense has looked compromised without Brandon Montour and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Jones is a polarizing player, but most of that is because he was miscast and paid to be an elite No. 1 defenseman on an awful team.
In Florida, Jones should flourish as a No. 2/3. Don’t forget that when Hampus Lindholm was traded from Anaheim to Boston, the numbers also suggested he was no longer a high-end top-four defenseman, only for him to thrive and bounce back on a better team in Boston where he didn’t have to be the No. 1. Environment matters a lot for defensemen’s success and the Panthers have an impeccable track record of unlocking the best out of nearly every defenseman they acquire.
Blackhawks grade: B+
Panthers grade: B
(Photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
