Blackhawks acquire Seth Jones and sign him to an eight-year contract worth $9,500,000 annually

The Chicago Blackhawks have found their defenceman.

The team has reportedly acquired Seth Jones from the Columbus Blue Jackets and they immediately inked him to a seven-year contract worth $9,500,000 annually.

This deal will give Jones the third-highest cap hit in the league among defencemen, trailing only San Jose’s @Erik Karlsson ($11,500,000) and Los Angeles’ @Drew Doughty ($11,000,000).

Jones was originally drafted No. 4 overall by the Nashville Predators in the 2013 draft. He played his first two-and-a-half seasons in Nashville before getting dealt to the Blue Jackets in 2016 in a one-for-one swap for @Ryan Johansen.

During his time in Columbus, Jones lived up to his draft pedigree and evolved into a legitimate top-pairing defender. In 2018, he finished fourth in Norris Trophy voting and also received votes in both 2019 and 2020.

The 2021 season was a down year for Jones, as it was for many players on a poor Blue Jackets team. Jones played in 56 games, scoring five goals and 38 points, but his on-ice goal differential of 45-to-61 was far and away the worst of his career. Jones has also received quite a bit of flack for having poor underlying numbers.

The hope for Chicago here is that a change of scenery can get Jones back on track to where he was a few years ago as a legitimate top-pairing defender for the team to build their blueline around. The team also acquired Jones’ younger brother, Caleb, from the Oilers in the Duncan Keith deal earlier this month.

PuckPedia broke the contract details, which include over $40-million in signing bonus’.