Life in the NHL really can change drastically overnight, and Seth Jones might be one of the best examples of that in the 2024–25 season. The 30-year-old defenseman asked to be traded by the Chicago Blackhawks, and the team fulfilled his wish — and then some — sending him to the current Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers, leaving Connor Bedard and his former teammates behind.
Jones has been under the scope throughout his stay in the Windy City, where the Blackhawks had signed him to an eight year, $76M contract prior to the 2023-24 NHL season. Jones failed to meet expectations, though he had little help surrounding him, and ultimately the relationship between the blueliner and the organization wore out and the wisest move was to part ways.
In came the Panthers, who were in need of a high-end defenseman in order to pursue back-to-back Stanley Cups, and Jones made an immediate impact upon touching down in Sunrise.
Jones is now looking like a completely different player than he was on Bedard’s Blackhawks. The Windy City took its toll on Jones, but the fresh, cool air off the beaches of the Sunshine State healed every wound for the 4th overall selection in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.
“My hair is growing back. It definitely feels like there’s some pressure off [me] after the trade,” Jones admitted in dialogue with Chicago Sun-Times. “In Chicago, I was just forcing things and trying to do too much — out of my realm, to be honest.
“It was always hopefully for the betterment of the team, in my opinion, [even though] it didn’t always turn out that way or look that way. But here, I can just play my game.”
Under the bright lights
All Jones was looking for was a change of scenery in the NHL—and that he found. After enduring a disastrous 2023-24 campaign and most of the 2024-25 season, Jones entered the most feared team in the league, which continues to torment opponents every single night in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“I’m extremely happy I’ve gotten this opportunity,” Jones added. “This franchise believed in me. I wasn’t playing the greatest hockey in Chicago, but I’m glad I came here and have the supporting group around me.”
With the Panthers, Jones is now playing in the Eastern Conference Final, a stage he had never reached before in his NHL career, but had always dreamt of. Now, he gets to live out his dream, and hopefully can help the team reach its third straight Cup Final.
Message to Chicago
Bedard and the Blackhawks couldn’t even any farther from the Panthers’ status quo. Chicago, though boasting one of the most exciting prospects pool in the NHL, has yet to build a solid, consistent lineup in the league and compete with the teams at the top of the pyramid, like Florida. Still, Jones expects big things for his former team.
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“Chicago is going to be a great team,” Jones concluded. “They’re young and learning how to play the game, and there’s a lot of great guys in that locker room. It’s just different timelines. It’s a completely different situation here. You have a lot of guys that are 28, 30 or 32 years old who know how to win and understand how to win.”