NEWSLETTER
Let’s jump into some interesting comments from defenseman Seth Jones in a piece from Ben Pope at the Chicago Sun-Times on Saturday. He talked about making some changes to the flex in his stick (he’ll play at 90 this season), but it was his thoughts on the Blackhawks letting his younger brother, Caleb, walk in free agency and the turnover on the blue line that caught my attention.
“[Caleb has] a real chance at playoff hockey, which is something everyone wants.” Okay…
Pope mentions that Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson called Seth after making the decision to let Caleb walk, not before. “Chicago just wanted to go a different way and play some of the young defensemen that we have.”
Regarding the youth movement on the Blackhawks’ blue line, Seth said in part: “It’s going to be a very bright future for the Hawks. And hopefully it doesn’t take too long — I’m getting old. It’s nothing you can force, obviously. You have to let players develop. Wherever that takes the organization, that’s where it takes us.”
As a reminder, Seth is entering just the second year of his eight-year contract. He’s right that he’s getting older; he turns 29 on Oct. 3, just before the start of already his 12th NHL season. Seth has appeared in 730 regular-season games in his career… but only 37 total playoff games — none of which have come in the past three seasons.
Is he a happy Blackhawk right now? I don’t know. He’s got $12.5 million reasons to be happy this season (in real dollars, not cap hit) but, after three years with no playoffs after believing he was signing a long-term deal with a Blackhawks team that was going to make a run to get back in the playoffs at the time, the rebuild has been tough on plenty of veterans. It’s worth remembering that Seth shares an agent with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Is Seth in it to help build the team back up or will he eventually want a more clear path to the playoffs? That might become something to watch in the coming years.
