How the Chicago Blackhawks can still win the Seth Jones trade
By Jim Lynch
The Chicago Blackhawks traded for Seth Jones during the 2021 NHL offseason in a deal that already looks pretty bad for the Hawks. Despite all the pieces the Blue Jackets gained, the Hawks can still win this trade.
The Blackhawks gave up a lot to get Seth Jones on their roster. Jones cost the Blackhawks basically three first-round picks when you think about it, it cost the team Adam Boqvist, a previous first-round pick, as well as two future, picks that both ended up being pretty high picks.
This looks like a deal that Stan Bowman made knowing he was out the door from this organization, as he gave up a lot in a win-now move for the franchise. While it was not a great trade by any means, the Blackhawks can still win this move.
Here are the exact details of the trade:
Jones played in 78 games this past season putting up five goals and 46 assists during that time. He was the Chicago Blackhawks’ best defenseman and is only 27 years old. With some of the moves the Blackhawks are going to have to make this offseason, he is going to be the face of this franchise and is someone the team will be building around for the future.
Nolan Allen looks like he could be a part of the Blackhawks’ future as well. Here is what EliteProspects had to say about him during their 2021 NHL Draft Guide:
"Allan’s value comes from skating and defence. He’s already an NHL-calibre skater with projectable posture (knees over toes, hip flexion, chest up), lateral and backwards quickness, and separation through punch turns exited with crossovers"
Allen and Jones are the keys to making this trade worthwhile for the Blackhawks. Jones is going to have a long career here with a massive eight-year deal kicking in this offseason, Allen on the other hand should be a defenseman who will get a chance with this team sometime down the line.
The trade that brought Jones to Chicago definitely is a tough one to look at, but having two NHL defensemen on their roster in the future should be able to help make up for it a little bit.
Jones is going to be that elite defenseman this team needs. Chicago hasn’t had a true elite defenseman since Duncan Keith and even he started to age out of that role after his grueling 2015 postseason.
Now we have to look at the other side here:
The Blue Jackets brought in a heck of a lot for Seth Jones. A player who said he was not going to re-sign with the Jackets. Columbus added the Hawks’ top young player in Adam Boqvist, who just had his best season this past year with the Jackets.
Boqvist put up 22 points in 52 games with the Blue Jackets and played over 17 minutes a night on average. While there is no guarantee that Boqvist becomes an elite top defenseman, there is still hope for him.
The Jackets also added the 12th overall pick in 2021, with that pick the team drafted Cole Sillinger. Sillinger is the only rookie this past year to play in almost every game. he played in 79 games this past season putting up 16 goals and 31 assists.
This pick could have belonged to Chicago and considering where the Hawks are at in their rebuild having Boqvist, Sillinger and another top pick at this upcoming draft would have been a big win for this team.
Sillinger even registered a hat trick this past season:
With the Blackhawks rebuilding, the Seth Jones trade looks pretty bad for the Hawks. But in the long run, if Chicago finds a way to rebuild this roster in the next five years without the pieces the team gave up in this trade, then Jones could still be that elite defenseman this team will need for a playoff run.
I know how lopsided this trade is in favor of the Jackets, but if Chicago finds a way to get Jones a championship in Chicago during his time with the team, then I think fans might look back on this deal differently in the long run.