Why The Chicago Blackhawks Will Probably Never Be Declared The Winner In The Seth Jones Trade

There are a couple of other reasons the Blackhawks can be viewed as losers in this trade.

The Blue Jackets used the 2021 first-round choice in the trade on Cole Sillinger.

He scored a goal on the Blackhawks in Columbus' Saturday night victory. The center has 23 points on the season. He had 31 points during his rookie campaign and struggled last season.

Overall, he looks like a solid NHL player. The Hawks could use a player like him right now.

The Chicago Blackhawks ended up trading away a top-10 draft pick.

The Hawks ended up as the sixth-worst team during the 2021-22 season. That meant the Hawks gave up a whole bunch of money and a top-10 pick for a player who did not help them win like what was hoped for at the time of the trade.

The Blue Jackets took defenseman David Jirick who has played 40 games so far for the Blue Jackets. He is still in the beginnings of his career so maybe he turns out to be a bust. Maybe he will become a top-pairing defenseman capable of logging huge minutes that will not cost $9.5 million a year for a while.

The key is the Hawks ended up having to start the rebuild during that season but could not use that No. 6 pick as a result of being horrible in 2021-22.

The Hawks ended up trading away Alex DeBrincat to get a top-10 pick in the 2022 draft.

Maybe the Hawks keep a young, budding superstar if they have the No. 6 pick. Instead, general manager Kyle Davidson shocked the world by trading his 40-goal scorer to get the No. 7 pick from Ottawa.

Maybe Davidson still trades DeBrincat since he was set for free agency the next year. Then again, maybe he would have stuck with DeBrincat to build a roster around if he had the sixth pick. He still could have taken Kevin Korchinski at that pick instead of No. 7.

There are still two ways the Blackhawks can make out a winner in this deal.

The first way is Seth Jones finds his offensive game during the rest of his contract. He is still 29 so it is not like when Bowman gave Seabrook a big contract even though his game was in a massive decline.

The Hawks did get a first-round pick back in the 2021 draft as part of the trade package. They used it on Nolan Allen. He is currently playing with the Blackhawks AHL team, the Rockford IceHogs.

He is Chicago Sun-Times Blackhawks beat reporter Ben Pope's eight-ranked prospect. Allen is a physical defenseman who can be a part of the Hawks' three defensive pairings.

Even if Jones starts playing like his career years in Columbus, it may never be enough as all anyone will see is that $9.5 million cap hit and no Norris Trophy. Unless he wins that or is part of the top defensive pairing on a Hawks playoff-winning team, the Blackhawks will probably always lose this deal.