Why Seth Jones is a good fit for the Panthers
The defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers bolstered their blue line ahead of the upcoming postseason, acquiring defenseman Seth Jones from the Chicago Blackhawks in a Saturday blockbuster.
On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk chatted with Florida Hockey Now’s George Richards about the acquisition and how Jones will fit in with his new club.
Tyler Yaremchuk: The Panthers were making news this weekend. Let’s start with your thoughts on the deal and the fit of Seth Jones with the Panthers.
George Richards: I think it’s a pretty good fit for Florida. You look at the weakness that Florida had this year and it was on the right side of defense. They needed defensive depth and they get one of the top available defensemen out there. Jones should slide right in with the Panthers on that second pairing with Niko Mikkola. Florida already has Aaron Ekblad and Gustav Forsling on their top defensive pairing. The Panthers know Jones. He played under Bill Zito with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He played with Sergei Bobrovsky in Columbus as well. This looks like a really good fit for Florida and a great fit for Jones who was growing pretty disenchanted with the way things were going in Chicago.
Frank Seravalli: No doubt he was disappointed [in Chicago]. What do you make of the Spencer Knight portion of this? Where was he at with his game and how different was he since he came back from his break?
George Richards: I think Knight was absolutely terrific. He took last year and played the entire season with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. I think that was one of his problems in that he put so much pressure on himself. He was so highly touted coming out [of Boston College]. Florida made him the 13th pick of the 2019 NHL Draft. He is considered one of the great, young U.S. goalies, and I think it put a lot of pressure on him. When he was going back and forth a little bit between Florida and Charlotte, it kind of wore on him. He comes back last year and accepts, ‘Hey, I’m playing hockey. I don’t care where it is. I am getting the start.’ It was really good for him. He played great for Charlotte last year, working with Leo Luongo, Roberto’s brother, the goalie coach in Charlotte who was with him every step of the way, every day in Charlotte. That was good for Spencer as well. When he came to training camp this year, he was ready to go. He was like, ‘Hey, listen. I’m here in Florida. Or maybe they send me back. Whatever, it’s fine. I am good with that.’ I think that was really good for his maturity. His game was right on. Bobrovsky and Knight were a terrific one-two punch. I just talked about Jones being a great fit in Florida. Well, Knight is going to be a great fit in Chicago. He is going to have the opportunity to really spread his wings, get some starts, maybe earn that starting job, where Bobrovsky was blocking him from doing that in Florida. I don’t know that that’s the case in Chicago.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here: