Quoting: Juiceman
Seth Jones will be 29 at the beginning of the season. The Hawks are like 4+ years away from being a contender….
The notion about Jones that CHI wants to move him, or that he is a bad defenseman, or that he has "the worst contract in the league", is not something that is shared by CHI's front office or fan base. The only way CHI moves him is if they are getting a haul for him, and that would first require him to ask for a trade or be willing to accept one. Otherwise, they really have no reason to move him.
I don't care how old he is or is going to be, or what his cap hit is, etc. Considering everything they have invested in him, all the cap space they have, all the positions they have open over the next few years, and how little they have in the pipeline for RHD, it makes very little sense for them to consider his contract enough of a burden to justify absorbing such a huge loss in value (i.e. Boqvist, Jiricek, Sillinger, taking on all of the cap this ACGM proposes, etc.).
Even if CHI agreed with those outside notions, when you add up all of these factors, they are better off just having him play out his contract.
But, that is just the feeling I get. I could certainly be wrong. It's possible they are playing their cards close to the vest, and they are secretly eager to move his contract out if the opportunity were to arise. Even so, it still makes very little sense to take such a huge loss, unless they have some very specific trade/free agent targets in mind that they need the space for immediately. They are better off putting him in the best possible position to succeed, hoping he has a big season or two, wait for Jones to get ancy and ask for a trade, and then wait for the calls to start coming in.