The impending growth of the salary cap is starting to show in teams’ trade strategy. Seth Jones, whose contract was one of the most unmovable anchors in the NHL a few short weeks ago, has been dealt.
Once seen as a slamdunk prospect, Jones has become a cautionary tale on the dangers of falling in love with the eye test. A mountain of a man and a rapid skater, the 30-year-old never became the dominator the Nashville Predators and Columbus Blue Jackets expected in his early career.
That matters little to the Florida Panthers, who have found a second-pair minute muncher to replace Brandon Montour, now a member of the Seattle Kraken.
On the other end of the deal, the Chicago Blackhawks are out from under Stan Bowman’s last desperation gambit to keep their 2010s dynasty alive. A pile of intriguing assets doesn’t hurt, either.
It’s a huge deal and a potential paradigm shift. That warrants the latest edition of Daily Faceoff’s trade grades.
Chicago Blackhawks
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G Spencer Knight, $4.5 million cap hit through 2026
Conditional 2026 first-round pick
$2.5 million retained cap hit for D Seth Jones through 2030
When a terrible team goes on the clock at the draft for any big-four North American sport, a common refrain from experts is that their safest option is to select the best player available. When you stink, you can’t afford to be picky.
That reasoning was apparently in play during this trade. Spencer Knight is a solid NHL goalie who’s still 23. He has 70 NHL starts under his belt despite battles with obsessive-compulsive disorder that kept him off the big team for the duration of the 2023-24 season. He has a first-round pedigree (13th overall in 2019). Most importantly, Knight is playing the best hockey of his young career (2.40 GAA, .907 SV%).
The Panthers could hardly afford to keep Knight, whose $4.5 million AAV paycheck was incumbent on a once-likely Sergei Bobrovsky buyout that never materialized. Still, Knight is a real blue-chipper who can help Chicago in the present and fits their long-term plans.
Sure, they already have two seaworthy vets under contract through 2026 in Petr Mrazek and Laurent Brossoit, and, sure, 25-year-old Arvid Soderblom recovered from one of the ugliest seasons in recent memory to earn his place in the show, but, at the most unpredictable position in any sport, security is a good thing. So too are expendable assets; Mrazek and Brossoit have just become thoroughly tradeable.
If Knight is the headliner of this Jones return, an unprotected first-rounder doesn’t hurt either. The terms are a bit unconventional: Florida retains the right to trade their 2026 pick and kick the Blackhawks’ prize to 2027.
If there’s one criticism of this trade for Chicago, it’s that it was on Jones’ terms, not those of GM Kyle Davidson. The big man did everything he could to make himself a pariah ahead of the Trade Deadline, and it worked.
That said, Davidson grabbed himself a good young player in Knight and a pick that can be used or flipped for a seasoned NHLer. $2.5 million in retained salary that will last well into the Hawks’ planned contention window was the cost of doing business for a contract of Jones’ size. The NHL’s most troubled team acquitted itself well here.
Grade: A-
Florida Panthers
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D Seth Jones, $7 million cap hit through 2030
2026 fourth-round pick
The initial question that springs to mind on the Florida end of this trade is “Why didn’t they just pay Montour?” Montour was a gamer and a powerplay ace that will live long in the memory of Panther fans. Letting him walk stung, even if it was a necessary evil that helped the team extend Carter Verhaeghe.
The answer is Knight’s contract. There isn’t a team in the NHL that can afford to commit $14.5 million to its goalies, not unless we’re talking about Patrick Roy and Bernie Parent in a 1:1 split. If Knight’s inclusion in this trade was a surprise, that’s only because GM Bill Zito did an excellent job keeping his cards close to his chest.
Someone had to go, and Bobrovsky’s outrageous salary and Stanley Cup ring narrowed down the selection. Chris Driedger’s return on a near-minimum deal makes a lot more sense now. He’s never been a game loser, and will only play sparingly the rest of the way.
As for Jones, he’s a different player from Montour but can certainly do the same job. Jones will skate better, hit less, and, in all likelihood, stay effective longer thanks to his elite mobility (67 percentile of top speed among NHL skaters). Three 10-goal seasons, with a fourth likely on the way, suggest Jones can mime Montour’s effectiveness on the man advantage.
Dmitry Kulikov has been brilliant in a role on his off side next to big hoss Niko Mikkola, better than even the most optimistic prognosticators would have guessed. He’s still a 34-year-old, 16-minute player with nonexistent offensive upside. The addition of Jones gives Florida a top four (Forsling-Ekblad, Mikkola-Jones) to rival that of their back-to-back Eastern Conference championship teams.
Seth Jones is not the player his talent profile suggests. He earned a top-four Norris finish in 2018, which won’t happen again. Still, a defenseman of his caliber, especially a right-handed one, rarely ever becomes available in the trade market. He bolsters the Panthers’ dynasty chances more than Knight or a far-flung first-rounder ever could.
Grade: A
