Seth Jones is a defenseman for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League. The 6-foot-4, 205-pounder has solid athletic bloodlines -- his father, Popeye Jones, played 11 seasons in the NBA. The top-ranked player in NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters eligible for the 2013 NHL Draft, Jones was taken with the No. 4 pick by the Nashville Predators. He was named the best professional prospect in the WHL and helped the United States win the gold medal at the 2013 World Junior Championship. Jones has offered to maintain a blog for NHL.com that chronicled his season leading up to the 2013 NHL Draft.

NEWARK, N.J. -- What an amazing day.

I actually slept good last night. I woke up around 8 o'clock. Went and ate breakfast with the family at the prospect breakfast in the hotel. Then I just kind of sat around for two or three hours and waited. And waited. And waited.

It felt like the time was going by really slow. It felt like it was never going to come around.

I got to the arena and did a couple interviews, then I sat down with my family.

I was happy for Nate MacKinnon to go No. 1. He's a great kid. I had a chance to room with him six or seven times now in a span of four years. If I wanted to choose someone to go first, it would be him. I'm very happy for him.

Seth Jones is a defenseman for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League. The 6-foot-4, 205-pounder has solid athletic bloodlines -- his father, Popeye Jones, played 11 seasons in the NBA. The top-ranked player in NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters eligible for the 2013 NHL Draft, Jones was named the best professional prospect in the WHL, and helped the United States win the gold medal at the 2013 World Junior Championship. Jones has offered to maintain a monthly blog for NHL.com that will chronicle his season leading up to the 2013 NHL Draft.

NEW YORK -- Hello from the top of the Empire State Building!

I'm finally here in New York and I can't wait for the draft to get here. I got in Wednesday, and when I got to my hotel room, Nathan MacKinnon was there. We have the same agent, so I guess they decided to make us be roommates for the next few days.

We walked around Times Square and it was cool seeing all those people around the city. Then the two of us had dinner out at an Italian restaurant -- I can't remember the name, but the food was good.

It's my first time in New York City, and it's pretty cool. It's very hectic, very crowded. It looks just like the movies -- there's taxis everywhere, people honking horns. But there's also a lot of shopping, a lot of high-end places. It's cool to come here and definitely get this experience.

Seth Jones is a defenseman for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League. The 6-foot-4, 205-pounder has solid athletic bloodlines -- his father, Popeye Jones, played 11 seasons in the NBA. The top-ranked player in NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters eligible for the 2013 NHL Draft, Jones was named the best professional prospect in the WHL, and helped the United States win the gold medal at the 2013 World Junior Championship. Jones has offered to maintain a monthly blog for NHL.com that will chronicle his season leading up to the 2013 NHL Draft.

After the Combine in Toronto, I just went home and spent some time with my family just resting up. It was a long season, so we were just hanging out. To pass the time, I've been watching the NHL and NBA playoffs. I want the San Antonio Spurs to win, and they're looking pretty good right now, leading the Miami Heat three games to two. The series isn't over yet, though, so we'll see.

Before attending Game 3 in Boston, I arrived in the city around 1 p.m. [Sunday]. I think Nathan [MacKinnon] got in around 5. So I just waited and hung out around the hotel until he got there. At night, we all got together for dinner and went to the Capital Grille. It was a nice restaurant and I love a good porterhouse steak.

Seth Jones is a defenseman for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League. The 6-foot-4, 205-pounder has solid athletic bloodlines -- his father, Popeye Jones, played 11 seasons in the NBA. The top-ranked player in NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters eligible for the 2013 NHL Draft, Jones was named the best professional prospect in the WHL, and helped the United States win the gold medal at the 2013 World Junior Championship. Jones has offered to maintain a monthly blog for NHL.com that will chronicle his season leading up to the 2013 NHL Draft.

TORONTO -- Checking in from the NHL Scouting Combine for one final time.

My day started pretty early -- the alarm went off at 7:20 a.m. It was a pretty early morning. I had some breakfast and we left the hotel at 8 a.m. for 8:30 medical testing. That took about two hours, an hour longer than it said on the schedule. Little frustrating, but everyone had to do it.

Then came the fitness testing room. That felt weird, for sure. You have hundreds of people's eyes staring at you and staring a hole through you. Cameras in your face, those sorts of things. It definitely is weird. You take your shirt off and everyone is still staring at you and it feels a little more weird. It definitely was an experience to remember.

I did the height and weight measurements and they tested my body fat, but that was it. I skipped out on the fitness tests. We made the decision a couple days ago. My agent, Pat Brisson, pulled me aside and said how are you feeling and those sorts of things. I've been nursing a couple injuries during the year. He said he thinks that it's best that I take the fitness off. I haven't had time to prepare for it. It was definitely both of our decisions.

Seth Jones is a defenseman for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League. The 6-foot-4, 205-pounder has solid athletic bloodlines -- his father, Popeye Jones, played 11 seasons in the NBA. The top-ranked player in NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters eligible for the 2013 NHL Draft, Jones was named the best professional prospect in the WHL, and helped the United States win the gold medal at the 2013 World Junior Championship. Jones has offered to maintain a monthly blog for NHL.com that will chronicle his season leading up to the 2013 NHL Draft.

Hello again from Toronto. Things have been going real well up here. I had about 10 more meetings today. It's pretty exciting. I had Tampa Bay today and I got the chance to meet Steve Yzerman, which is pretty cool.

I also met with Colorado today. I'm not sure who was in the room. I guess Patrick Roy came in today but I didn't get to meet him. Colorado really didn't treat me any different. I talked to a lot of other guys that went in with them and they pretty much asked the same questions -- if I think I'm NHL-ready, what can I bring to the team next year -- that sort of thing.

After the meetings I had an event to announce I signed an endorsement deal with CCM-Reebok. They've been great to me. I finally got it finalized tonight. It feels good to be in a family with a lot of great players -- Carey Price, Sidney Crosby, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. So it's pretty cool to do that. They have a lot of young guys with Jonathan Huberdeau and Alex Galchenyuk, also. Definitely feels like a big family. The gear is awesome. I switched last summer and I've loved it ever since. I don't see myself going to another brand.

We announced the deal with Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin. They're both great players. I've had the chance to play with them and against them a couple times. It's pretty cool sharing some of the same experiences as your friends.

Seth Jones is a defenseman for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League. The 6-foot-4, 205-pounder has solid athletic bloodlines -- his father, Popeye Jones, played 11 seasons in the NBA. The top-ranked player in NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters eligible for the 2013 NHL Draft, Jones was named the best professional prospect in the WHL, and helped the United States win the gold medal at the 2013 World Junior Championship. Jones has offered to maintain a monthly blog for NHL.com that will chronicle his season leading up to the 2013 NHL Draft.

Hi everyone!

I arrived in Toronto early Wednesday morning and had nine interviews today. It was a long day.

I've been asked a lot about my experience in the Memorial Cup tournament. It was cool to play against the best teams from all the leagues. You don't normally get to play against them so it's good experience and there are so many great players -- they have all different styles and that's what makes it cool. Halifax deserved that win in the end; they played outstanding hockey in the tournament final.

It was definitely hard to get adjusted to it. You watch video before the game, but only to a certain extent. You just have to do the best you can and play your game. I thought we did a good job, but it's just too bad we didn't win [against Halifax in the Memorial Cup final].

Seth Jones is a defenseman for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound defenseman has solid athletic bloodlines -- his father, Popeye Jones, played 11 seasons in the NBA. The top-ranked player in NHL Central Scouting's midterm ranking of North American skaters eligible for the 2013 NHL Draft, Jones excelled the last two seasons for the U.S. National Team Development Program and won a gold medal with the United States at the 2013 World Junior Championship. Jones has offered to maintain a monthly blog for NHL.com that will chronicle his season leading up to the 2013 NHL Draft.

The past couple of months have been very busy, but exciting at the same time.

The month of February was a roller-coaster for the team. Our high was a five-game winning streak, and our low was a three-game losing streak. Overall, we played some pretty good hockey throughout the month. And we are extremely confident in the way we are playing as a team right now.

Seth Jones is a defenseman for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound defenseman has solid athletic bloodlines -- his father, Popeye Jones, played 11 seasons in the NBA. Jones excelled the last two seasons for the U.S. National Team Development Program and won a gold medal with the United States at the 2013 World Junior Championship. Jones has offered to maintain a monthly blog for NHL.com that will chronicle his season leading up to the 2013 NHL Draft.

Hi, everyone. Our team just defeated Team Cherry, 3-0, to win this year's Top Prospects Game. Before leaving for Portland, I thought I would put together a quick victory blog.

I thought our goalies [Spencer Martin and Philippe Desrosiers] played phenomenal. Really, you have to give credit to them for the shutout. They both kind of set the tempo in the defensive zone, and I thought our defensive zone coverage was pretty good.

I thought the top line on Team Cherry -- [Ryan] Hartman, [Nathan] MacKinnon, [Jonathan] Drouin -- had a lot of chances and they created a lot of offensive plays, but luckily for our side they didn't get rewarded.

Laurent Dauphin [of the Chicoutimi Sagueneens] got called up because [Hunter] Shinkaruk was ill, and he played great for us [Wednesday] and was named Team Orr player of the game. He was great in the middle and was rewarded with a goal. He played good at both ends. He's a good player.

In the early stages of the game, you had to get a feel for the game with the ice, the pace and then adjust how you needed to play. Right from the start, I thought the game began very fast and thought it would take a little more time to get the pace up, but it started a lot quicker than I thought it would.

It didn't surprise me that Hartman got into a scrap [with Kerby Rychel] in the first period. That's the way Harts plays. He plays with an edge and knows how to get under the skin of the other team.

Overall, this was a great experience. Anytime you can play against top prospects in the CHL, it's awesome. You kind of get to see where you're at overall among the draft-eligible players. I thought it was a fast-paced game and it was physical out there, too. Right from the start, Hartman had a good hit and, actually, the hits were going both ways, so it was a good overall game.

Now, I'm just looking forward to getting back to Portland for the second half of the season. It should be a lot of fun since we're going pretty good as a team right now. I think we have a nice win streak so we're looking to keep it going.

Thanks for reading.

Follow Seth Jones on Twitter at: @seth_jones04

Seth Jones is a defenseman for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound defenseman has solid athletic bloodlines -- his father, Popeye Jones, played 11 seasons in the NBA. Jones excelled the last two seasons for the U.S. National Team Development Program and won a gold medal with the United States at the 2013 World Junior Championship. Jones has offered to maintain a monthly blog for NHL.com that will chronicle his season leading up to the 2013 NHL Draft.

Hi everyone!

I just finished up the on-ice testing, so I figured I'd provide some idea what my time has been like leading up to the Top Prospects Game on Wednesday.

During the testing on Tuesday, it was just a matter of going out there and competing a little bit and prove to the scouts and to everyone watching that you deserve to be in this class and just go out do the testing and see what happens.

My roommate here in Halifax is [Portland Winterhawks teammate] Oliver Bjorkstrand. I normally don't room with him on the road, so this is a first. But he's a really good guy, a little quiet and obviously European. Bottom line is if he was quiet I'd ask for a room change, so we're all good.

As far as the testing goes, the on-ice was a little more difficult than the off-ice, which is basically vertical jump, broad jump and little agility testing and medicine ball throws. With the on-ice, you had to think a little bit more and there was one reactionary test where you had to see what color a light was [red or green] and decide which direction you had to go. That was probably the most difficult thing.

Seth Jones is a defenseman for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound defenseman has solid athletic bloodlines -- his father, Popeye Jones, played 11 seasons in the NBA. Jones excelled the last two seasons for the U.S. National Team Development Program and won a gold medal with the United States at the 2013 World Junior Championship. Jones has offered to maintain a monthly blog for NHL.com that will chronicle his season leading up to the 2013 NHL Draft.

I've won a couple other tournaments, and under-18 golds, but right now, with this gold medal, it's the greatest feeling in my life right now. Nothing compares. The U-18 golds are good, but this is unbelievable.

We stayed off the ice yesterday. Coach Housley asked Jake McCabe, our captain, if he thought we needed a practice and he said we needed more rest. So we stayed off the ice yesterday and being this deep in the tournament, I think that really helped with our legs. We had an optional skate this morning, but I stayed off the ice then, too.