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Blue Jackets trade Seth Jones to Blackhawks for Boqvist, haul of draft picks

Seth Jones will unite with his brother, Caleb, in Chicago after being traded out of Columbus. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Chicago Blackhawks and Columbus Blue Jackets have finally come to terms on a trade with Seth Jones as the centerpiece.

According to various reports, Jones has been traded to Chicago, and will in turn sign a maximum-term contract extension, as part of a seven-asset trade with the Blue Jackets.

In full, Chicago will acquire Jones, the 32nd overall pick in Friday's draft, and a sixth-round selection in 2022 in exchange for prized defensive prospect Adam Boqvist, the 12th overall selection and a second-round selection in 2021, as well as an additional first-round pick in 2022.

Jones will turn around and sign an eight-year extension worth a reported $76 million on Wednesday. The agreement works out to an average annual value of $9.5 million.

Jones is coming off a forgettable 2020-21 season, where he scored five goals and 28 points while authoring a 48.75 CF% and career-low 42.75 percent expected goals percentage. Fortunately, it seems to be more or less an outlier season, as Jones has fashioned strong numbers throughout his career while building himself into a No. 1 defenseman.

Columbus's dysfunction, surely, played a role in Jones' performance dip.

Jones is being paid to lead a defensive unit that has fully transitioned out of the Stanley Cup seasons with Duncan Keith's trade to the Edmonton Oilers. He will also be contributing to a heavily imbalanced pay structure, with Jones, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane earning a combined $30.5 million — or 37 percent of the team's salary cap.

Columbus, meanwhile, is still very much in the beginning stage of its re-tooling, and has an impressive young prospect to continue to build around in Boqvist, as well as two picks in the top 12 on Friday night.

It's believed they will add Jake Bean from the Carolina Hurricanes to that growing prospect base in exchange for a second-round pick.

So in sum, the Blue Jackets have added Boqvist, improved their draft position dramatically, added a first-round pick next summer, and landed a former first-round selection and NHL-ready defender in Bean, in exchange for Jones.

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