Seth Jones Will Miss The Olympics

Extremely disappointing news for the Florida Panthers on Wednesday, as it was announced that Seth Jones will miss the Olympics due to his injury sustained during the Winter Classic. Jones wasn’t on the radar of even making Team USA last season, but he had earned himself an invite after his trade to Florida and attending the Team USA Camp over the summer. Before getting injured, Seth was having a stellar season for the Panthers and was Florida’s best defenseman most nights. His pairing with Niko Mikkola has been a dominant force on the back end. Despite missing time, Jones still leads the Panthers in TOI at 23:29, nearly a full minute more than the next player, Aaron Ekblad, who’s averaging 22:30 minutes a night. Seth has also been Florida’s leading points scorer for defensemen at 24 points; Ekblad is the next closest at 20 points. He was originally listed as day-to-day following the Winter Classic but has since been placed on LTIR and listed as week-to-week. The soonest he could’ve returned to the Florida lineup was against Utah next week, but it now looks like he won’t be back until after the Olympic break. 

Team USA announced that Jackson LaCombe from the Anaheim Ducks will be replacing Jones. He’s in his third full season as an NHL player. However, he has previous international experience. LaCombe was a part of the USA team that won its first IIHF Men’s World Championship gold medal since 1933 last May. He was also on the US National Junior Team that won gold at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship. In 49 games this season, Jackson has 31 points and leads the Ducks in TOI at 24:26; the next closest is Trouba at 22:22. LaCombe plays in all situations for Anaheim, like Jones does for the Panthers. What USA will be missing most is some of the size and reach that Jones brings. They are close in that department, but Seth is two inches taller and has nearly 10 pounds on LaCombe. 

It was a hot debate about whether Jones was the reason that Adam Fox wasn’t picked for Team USA. Unfortunately, we’ll never know the answer to that because Fox is also on LTIR at the moment and unavailable. 

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