10 NHL Things
By: Rod Pedersen / Reprinted with permission of the South Florida Tribune
1 – HOCKEY’S HOT SPOT: What an absolute avalanche of Florida hockey news we have for you in the Tribune this week! The Panthers made an earth-shaking trade, said good-bye to a fan favorite, placed another on the injured list, and the Lightning caught fire. That is, until they ran into big brother. Let’s go!
2 – ALONG CAME JONES: The Florida Panthers got the jump on the March 7 NHL Trade Deadline by acquiring 30-year old defenseman Seth Jones from the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday for goaltender Spencer Knight and a first round pick in the 2027 Draft. Jones, a Dallas product and son of NBA great Popeye Jones, was the 4th overall pick of the 2013 Draft by the Nashville Predators. He’s played over 800 NHL games with Nashville, Columbus (where he crossed paths with current Panthers GM Bill Zito) and Chicago. However Jones fell out of favor with the Blackhawks after torching the team in the media last week for being a perennial loser ever since he got to the Windy City in 2022. Just a few days later, he was shipped out of town but hasn’t stopped smiling since.
3 – THE TRADE: So many Panthers fans have asked if this trade will benefit the team. The first answer is, of course. Jones was relied on heavily with the last-place Blackhawks but that’s a team going nowhere. Here, he’ll provide some offense, a veteran presence, and will be key to another Stanley Cup run. In Jones’ debut Monday in a 2-1 Cats victory over Tampa Bay, the 6’4” rearguard played 22:56, had three shots on goal, one hit and two blocked shots. He probably was keen to make a good first impression and definitely passed the test.
4 – CATS QUOTES: Jones’ new – and old – teammates were impressed by his debut as well. “He’s gonna be really good for us,” said coach Paul Maurice after the game. “Moves the puck clean, and he’s got a set of hands on him. So I thought for flying in yesterday to get here, and then everything (being) brand new, mostly he’s playing on instinct out there … I was really pleased.” Meanwhile goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky played four seasons with Seth in Columbus and says they turned back the clock Monday night. “He still was amazing,” Bobrovsky recalled. “And, you know, he was an amazing skater. He was smart. It was a privilege to play with him. And I’m so, so happy to reunite with him again.”
5 – KNIGHT TIME: It says here Spencer Knight could’ve been the Next One in the Panthers crease but you have to give up something good to get something in a trade. Florida’s first round pick, 13th overall in 2019, Knightonly appeared in 80 career games since, mostly as a back-up. Bobrovsky is showing no signs that he’s ready to relinquish the starter’s role. While the Next One isn’t immediately apparent in the Panthers pipeline, you’ve gotta defer to front office exec Roberto Luongo who knows a thing or two about stopping pucks. And as far as Bill Zito is concerned, the time is now.
6 – CHUCKY SHELVED: Zito confirmed on Monday that star forward Matthew Tkachuk has been placed on the Long Term Injured Reserve and told the media, “We hope to get him back for the playoffs.” The Face of the Franchise was injured while playing for Team USA in the 4 Nations Faceoff tournament and the nature of the ailment has been closely guarded.
7 – THE TONIGHT SHOW: Tkachuk’s injury didn’t prevent him from appearing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon last week. A big topic of the interview was the fisticuffs in the Canada-USA round robin game in Montreal at the 4 Nations Faceoff. Tkachuk and his younger brother Brady were involved in fights just two seconds into the game. “I think guys wanted to get our anger out of the way,” Tkachuk told Fallon. The interview was an incredible boon for the NHL, and the Panthers. In my time, the only NHLers I can recall seeing on late night television (i.e. David Letterman) were Wayne Gretzky and Henrik Lundquist, and those were New York players! Well done Matthew.
8 – PLAYOFF RACE: With the Trade Deadline looming on Friday, it’s shaping up to be the wildest playoff race in NHL history. And that’s saying something because last year’s playoff seeding went down to the final night of the regular season! As of today, 25 of the NHL’s 32 teams are either in a playoff spot, or within four points of one. That means the trades we’ll see leading up to the deadline will be what makes, or breaks a team. This is where General Managers earn their money.
9 – TRADE BAIT: Seth Jones was listed in the Top 5 trade targets, and we pointed that out in last week’s column. Still on the board are NY Islanders forward Brock Nelson, Pittsburgh forward Rickard Rakell, Vancouver defenseman Carson Soucy, Montreal defenseman David Savard and Anaheim goalie John Gibson. Seth Jones might’ve been the most lucrative piece of them all! But these are just lists. Nobody saw Vancouver trading J.T. Miller to the NY Rangers nor Colorado shipping Mikko Rantanen to Carolina before those trades were made last month. Anything can happen!
10 – GO BOLTS: The Tampa Bay Lightning saw their eight game winning streak get snapped when they fell 2-1 to the Panthers in Sunrise on Monday. It shouldn’t have been a surprise to see such a low-scoring game whatwith the two best goalies in the world at each end of the ice; Bobrovsky and Andrei Vasilevskiy. With 22 games to go, the Lightning sit third in the Atlantic Division at 35-21-4. That’s five points behind the Panthers (who are tied with Toronto for first-place) and eight points up on Detroit, who holds the final wildcard playoff berth. Don’t be surprised if the Lightning make a move before the Trade Deadline to help nail down a playoff spot.
See you at the rink!
(Rod Pedersen covers the NHL for the South Florida Tribune. He also hosts the award-winning Cats N Bolts Podcast and the daily Rod Pedersen Show on Game+TV, YouTube Live & Podcast)
