The Blackhawks made waves in Chicago on Monday when they traded arguably the franchise's greatest defenseman ever in Duncan Keith, who respectfully requested the move to be closer to his son. The soon-to-be 38-year-old-defenseman was shipped to the Edmonton Oilers, who felt they needed somebody with championship pedigree inside their locker room.
Keith being traded out of Chicago dominated headlines, and rightfully so. He will forever be a city icon and is going to have his No. 2 hanging in the United Center rafters one day.
But the Blackhawks are excited about what they got in return, which is a conditional third-round draft pick in 2022 that could turn into a second-rounder if the Oilers advance to the 2022 Stanley Cup Final AND Keith logs Top 4 minutes amongst defensemen.
The Blackhawks also received defenseman Caleb Jones, who found out about the trade while playing a video game.
"It was a crazy moment," Jones said during his media availability on Tuesday. "It was kinda funny. I was playing NBA 2K and I got a quick text from someone saying, 'Whoa, is that true?' I didn’t know what I was talking about. I'd seen a few things popping up about rumors. I went on social media and it'd happened just that quick, and then I started getting phone calls.
"It took a little bit to set in but I’m really excited. Obviously, I've been playing up in Edmonton the last couple of years and I'm from Dallas, so it's nice to get to a team that’s a little closer to home. Chicago is a great city and I've heard nothing but good things about the organization so I'm really excited to get going."
When word started to spread that Jones would be part of the deal, it didn't take very long for the fanbase to start wondering what that could mean for the Blackhawks' pursuit of Caleb's older brother Seth, who's likely to be traded from Columbus this offseason after he informed the team that he would not re-sign after his contract expires next season.
Caleb hasn't really thought much about the possibility of playing with his brother at the NHL level, but he couldn't help but smile when asked what that experience could be like if it did happen one day.
"I wouldn’t say it’s ever been a dream," Jones said. "We both just wanted to play in the NHL like a lot of kids growing up. Once we were fortunate enough, both of us, to get there, it's popped up a few times. I’ve actually never even played against him, so I've been looking for that day to come. But playing with him would be really fun. He’s got his own situation going on over there, so we’ll see what happens throughout the summer with that. But if it ever did happen, it’d be really fun and we'd both enjoy it. So it would be really cool."
The Blackhawks didn't solely trade for Caleb just to strengthen their potential pitch for Seth. It certainly helps, but the organization feels the 24-year-old defenseman can be a nice depth piece moving forward.
Jones called himself a two-way defenseman and is trying to develop into a player that can be relied upon in any situation. There's no guarantee he'll be a consistent everyday player for the Blackhawks, but Jones is "looking forward to going in and competing for my spot and hopefully sticking around."
"I had a good first couple of years, and then last year didn’t go as good as I wanted," Jones said. "It was a weird year. I was a little bit inconsistent, up and down in my play. I believe I can be a really good player. That can happen sometimes but there's nothing much I can do. A fresh start will be good for me and I believe there’s a good opportunity in Chicago to become a really good player for that team."
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Jones out to prove he can be 'really good player' - NBC Sports Chicago
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