SUNRISE, Fla. — The opportunity to might seem like a simple decision.
It was not that way for the Florida Panthers.
A day after pulling off the deal that brought Jones in from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for goaltender Spencer Knight, Panthers general manager and hockey operations president Bill Zito said the Stanley Cup champions took their time before finally executing the move and agreeing to bring on Jones — who has five years left on a big-money contract.
“Obviously, this isn’t a decision made over 10 minutes,” Zito said Sunday. “Lots of time and energy and effort and research in all areas of the game, whether it’s live scouting, knowing somebody, the analytic side, the coachability. And as we went through it, he just continued to check every box. Those are the kinds of guys we can commit to, and we think that he’ll thrive in our environment.”
Jones, the No. 4 pick in the 2013 draft, will be introduced by the Panthers on Monday following the team’s morning skate in advance of its home game against the rival Tampa Bay Lightning. He is expected to quickly fill a marquee spot on the Florida blue line. Some Panthers players already know Jones well — he and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky were teammates in Columbus, for example.
The trade came at a high price. The Panthers will be on the hook for 74% of Jones’ average salary of $9.5 million over the next five years; Chicago retained the other 26%. And Knight was widely considered to be Florida’s goaltender of the future, a 2019 first-round pick who has impressed at every level of hockey.
Knight spoke openly in the past 18 months of his battle to control obsessive compulsive disorder — he sought help in 2023 and stepped away from the game for a few months. He didn’t play for the Panthers last season and spent the entirety of 2023-24 in the minors before going 12-8-1 with two shutouts as Sergei Bobrovsky’s backup this season.
The Panthers — players, coaches and front office included — have raved about Knight all season. Zito said the idea of parting with Knight — a fan favorite in Florida — only added to the difficulty of the decision to make the trade.
“It was really very difficult, on so many different levels,” Zito said of trading Knight. “You can’t imagine. The level of respect we have for Spencer is tremendous. He’s a wonderful person. He’s a wonderful guy. The guy’s a champion. It’s really hard. It’s not fun on a personal level and it’s not fun on a business level, but you have to make hard decisions.”
The Panthers likely aren’t done with their work going into Friday’s trade deadline. Forward Matthew Tkachuk was placed on injured reserve Sunday, indicating that his return from some sort of lower-body injury — he was slowed during the 4 Nations Face-Off event and hasn’t played for the Panthers since that tournament ended — is not imminent.
“Busy week,” Zito said. “I like our team. I’m happy with our team. But if we can get better, we get better. That’s what we do.”
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