Seth Jones’ Comments Are Too Little, Too Late for the Blackhawks & Their Fans

“We’re the exact same team right now as we were game 1. It’s pretty evident out there,” Jones said. “We haven’t made any strides to be a better, more simple hockey team, and it shows.”

Jones, who scored his seventh goal of the season earlier in the game, is in his fourth season with the Blackhawks after signing an eight-year, $76 million contract ahead of the 2021-22 season. To go with his seven goals, the 30-year-old has 20 assists for 27 points in 41 games this season.

“This has been almost four years of (being at the) bottom of the league, so it’s not just this year,” Jones added.

As mentioned earlier, Jones has yet to play in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with the Blackhawks, with the team not even sniffing a playoff spot beyond February in any of his first three seasons. After their loss to Utah, Chicago is now 17-34-7 with 41 points, last in the Central Division and the second-worst record in the NHL.

Too Little, Too Late

If you’ve followed the Blackhawks through the 2024-25 season, Jones’ comments should come as no surprise. Not many, if any, fans or those who cover the team thought this group was going to contend for a playoff spot in April, but at the very least, the hope was that they would climb out of the league basement.

But considering the team has been essentially out of playoff contention since December, you can understand the frustrations that are beginning to seep through in post-game quotes and player interviews. They’re professional athletes who want to win, why would they want to put up with this?

However, from the perspective of someone who has covered this team for a few years, there’s a wide brushstroke of irony in Jones’ comments. Sure, other players have spoken up – Jason Dickinson said in January that “it feels worse than it ever has,” but it’s the timing of Jones’ latest post-game thoughts that feel a bit insincere.

Jones told The Athletic‘s Scott Powers on Feb. 21 that he was seeking a trade for a chance to play in “meaningful games.”

“I’ve been here the last four years through probably the darkest times the Blackhawks have seen for a while,” Jones said after practice on Friday. “I think things are moving up, they are moving forward. But I think my timeline might be different than Kyle (Davidson) and Norm’s (Maciver) and the Blackhawks. There’s nothing against anybody. I’m not holding it against anybody what they decided to do here. Sometimes it’s not in everyone’s plans.

– From ‘The Athletic: Blackhawks’ Seth Jones seeking trade for chance to play in ‘meaningful’ games, Feb. 21, 2025‘

In the days since then, multiple reports have linked Jones to several destinations. TSN’s Chris Johnston indicated that Jones “would love to play” with the Dallas Stars, which makes sense, considering that’s where he grew up. And with news of the NHL and NHLPA’s estimated cap increase of $25.5 million over the next three seasons, Jones’ $9.5-million cap hit doesn’t seem so bad, especially if the Blackhawks retain a chunk of it.

But Jones hasn’t left yet. He’s still a member of the Blackhawks, he’s still penciled into the lineup for their Feb. 27 game against the Vegas Golden Knights, and he’s still one of the leaders of this group. So for him to wait until after he’s already publicly requested a trade to call out this group, well, it feels disingenuous.

Where was this when they were struggling in November? Where was this attitude after their poor performance got Luke Richardson fired in December? Did Jones make a peep at any point before the Feb. 25 loss to Utah, when they lost 19 of their last 24 games?

That’s the problem with where this group is at: they’ve been so bad for so long, you find yourself second-guessing the thought process of the players. “Are they just saying this to get themselves traded? How many have privately asked their agents to push for a trade? Is this the last we’ll see them in a Blackhawks’ sweater?”

And now Jones, at one point one of the league’s most promising two-way players, and a guarantee on any U.S. National Team’s “best-on-best” roster, is a struggling defender who is overpaid, overplayed and underperforming. Wherever he’s traded to, you can only hope he’s put in a situation to succeed, somewhere where he isn’t asked to be Scott Niedermayer every night, and he can comfortably give you an honest effort, night in and night out.

It’s been a train wreck of a season, one that fans are sure to want scrubbed from their memories. In the last few years, the illusion of hope and looking to the future was what helped fans get through the losing streaks. But that’s all it was: an illusion.

Now Blackhawks’ management and ownership have to take a long look in the mirror and see if they like what’s there. Because right now, no one does.