Deal works for both teams.
I have hated Jones in Chicago for a long while now. Best I can describe his play is "lackadaisical" and "nonchalant". Think it might've been hurting the team here more than helping. A guy who plays the most minutes playing like that sets the tempo for how the rest of the team plays. When he's been out this season, I've generally felt the Hawks have played faster, which is the style Davidson wants the Hawks to play.
But in Florida, with the defending champs, he's more likely going to have to adapt a bit to their style of game, instead of the team adapting to his. The benefit of having multiple defenders who are as good or better than him on the roster.
And he really should solidify that D core. On paper (and with a healthy Tkachuk), they look better than they did the last two seasons, both of which had them making it to the Final.
Jones might not be worth half his contract ($9.5m per, not the $7m Florida is paying) in those final two years, but the Cats are in win now mode and pushing their chips in for him is a good, albeit bit ballsy, move.
And while losing Knight may hurt, he was their backup this season. If things go right, he wouldn't have been playing a single minute in the playoffs for them anyways. Knight may not have helped that team go on another run for this season or next, but Jones certainly can.
Hawks get rid of Jones, who again, has been very "lackadaisical" here and may not even be worth half of what we would've been paying him in those final couple of seasons, which are the years the Hawks are hoping to be at least a bit competitive. Hawks also have Levshunov and Rinzel in the pipeline, both former 1st rounders with size and skating, who would be pushing Jones down the lineup in those final years. And those two, along with Korchinski, could eventually have bumped down Jones to the 2nd PP unit, or worse, off the powerplay completely.
If we kept Jones, in those last couple seasons, we very well could've been stuck paying him $9.5m per and only be playing him in a 3rd pairing role. Getting out of that potential situation is a blessing.
I like Knight. Doesn't hold as much value as when he was drafted, but some of that is also due to his cap, which we aren't worried about here. He has the highest chance of anyone in this organization to becoming a starter, a good one at that, so we're happy he's here. More 1sts are also appreciated.
tldr: Jones sucked here, but could certainly be better on a better team. Hawks open space on the right side defense of the future for Levshunov and Rinzel. Happy with Knight and a 1st.
