Jones leading Panthers, making push for U.S. Olympic spot

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Don't sleep on Seth Jones.

The defenseman has been so good for the Florida Panthers this season that he should be a top candidate to play for the United States at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

“I don't think people appreciate how well Seth Jones is playing for us right now,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said.

Jones has 20 points (five goals, 15 assists) in 35 games entering the Panthers' game at the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; FDSNSO, SCRIPPS). The 31-year-old is first among Florida defensemen, tied for ninth among U.S. defensemen.

Dig deeper, though.

“Our power play had a couple of tough runs, which is usually where those guys put the numbers up where people notice them and how important they are, so he doesn't get that statistical notice,” Maurice said. “But his game is right on. He's dominant for me in the game right now.”

Jones has size at 6-foot-4, 213 pounds, and skates well. He's averaging 24:01 of ice time, first among Florida skaters, sixth among U.S. defenseman, and he's all over the ice. In a 4-3 shootout win against Carolina on Friday, he played 30:47, a season high, and covered 4.64 miles, according to NHL EDGE Puck and Player Tracking, also a season high.

The United States is heavy on power-play quarterbacks and left-handed shots, but light on shutdown defensemen and right-handed shots. Florida has had 52.9 percent of the shot attempts when Jones has been on the ice at 5-on-5. He's part of a penalty kill that ranks 10th in the NHL (81.9 percent), and he shoots right.

Rosters are due Dec. 31. The tournament is Feb. 11-22.

“I'm focusing on just my game here,” Jones said Saturday. “Obviously, I want to play in the Olympics, and it'd be a dream come true. But I can only control what I can control, so I'm not going to lose sleep over it. If it happens, it happens.”

After struggling with the rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks for almost four seasons, Jones joined the defending Stanley Cup champions in a trade March 1.

Jones couldn't ease into a new system. Defenseman Aaron Ekblad received a 20-game suspension March 10 for violating the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program, thrusting Jones into a larger role for the final 18 games of the regular season and the first two of the playoffs.

But by the time Ekblad returned, Jones was hitting his stride. He led Florida in average ice time (25:30) in the playoffs and had nine points (four goals, five assists) in 23 games, winning his first ring and helping the Panthers repeat.

Jones was one of 44 players invited to the United States Men's Olympic Orientation Camp in Plymouth, Michigan, on Aug. 25-27. He hoped his playoff performance had caught the attention of U.S. general manager Bill Guerin and coach Mike Sullivan. Florida GM Bill Zito is also part of the U.S. management group.

“In a long playoff run, you show that you can play with physicality in many different situations for another 2½ months,” Jones said at orientation camp. “Hopefully, they saw that, that I can do that. Maybe that's the reason I'm here today.”

In the end, Jones got a fresh start, and he got it with a championship team. The system plays to his strengths, and he doesn't have to do it all.

“It helps when you have the puck more, but at the same time, I'm just trying to use my instincts,” Jones said. “But I think we play such a tight-gap game on the forecheck and in the neutral zone, it forces me to use my feet a lot more.

“This style of play, us, Carolina, kind of the man-on-man all over the ice, it's just a little bit different than what I played in the past, right? It took me a second last year to get really acclimated to it.”

Now Jones is comfortable and confident. Maurice said Jones has picked up where he left off in the playoffs in terms of intensity and is playing as well as he's ever seen him play.

Jones is part of the third episode of “Road to the Discover NHL Winter Classic presented by Enterprise,” which premieres in the United States on Tuesday (3 p.m. ET; TNT, truTV, HBO Max). Fans in Canada can watch it Thursday (2:30 p.m. ET; SN).

The Panthers host the New York Rangers in the 2026 Discover NHL Winter Classic at loanDepot park in Miami on Jan. 2 (8 p.m. ET; HBO Max, truTV, TNT, SNW, SNO, SNE, TVAS).

“It feels like I've been here forever,” Jones said. “It's a great group of guys. The coaching staff did a hell of a job showing me video, a lot of video, when I first got here, how to play in the system.

“I see now how it really brings out the skills that I have and the way that I want to play and be aggressive every night. It all starts defensively, closing gaps, forcing other teams to make plays under pressure, and that's where our team in general creates turnovers and creates offense.”

Jones has represented the United States multiple times but never in a best-on-best tournament.

He was invited to orientation camp before the 2014 Sochi Olympics, but he was only 20 that season and didn't make the U.S. roster. He played in the World Cup of Hockey 2016 but for Team North America, comprised of players 23-and-under from Canada and the United States. NHL players didn't participate in the Olympics in 2018 and 2022, and he didn't make the U.S. roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off last season.

Now NHL players are returning to the Olympics.

“It's a big deal,” Jones said at orientation camp. “You're playing for something more than yourself, right? That was kind of what 'Billy' and 'Sully' talked about [in a meeting]. An Olympic team that has success is a team that fills the roles properly. Not everyone's going to play the power play. Not everyone's going to play the penalty kill. Some guys are going to play more than others.”

Will Jones fill one of those roles?