Seth Jones

Jared Seth Jones (born October 3, 1994) is an American professional ice hockey defenseman and alternate captain for the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL).

He was in attendance for Game 7 when the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2001.

Jones began playing organized ice hockey with local teams in Denver and playing with travel teams when he was eight years old.

He played in the 2005, 2006 and 2007 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournaments with three different minor ice hockey teams from Colorado.

He and his family moved back to Texas when Jones was 12.

At the same time he decided he wanted to play for the United States National Team Development Program (NTDP).

He played for the Dallas Stars Bantam Major team, scoring 33 points in 31 games.

In the 2009 Bantam draft the Everett Silvertips selected Jones eleventh overall.

He was projected to be a higher pick in the draft, but concerns that he would choose to play college hockey over the Western Hockey League (WHL) caused him to be selected lower.

After being drafted Jones played another season in Dallas, with the Stars U-18 team before joining the NTDP.

In his first season with the NTDP Jones spent time with both the under 17 and under 18 teams.

He served as co-captain of the U-17 team.

Jones registered 21 points in 37 games of the NTDP season, which included league play in the United States Hockey League (USHL), plus international play and games against division II and III National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) teams.

His 21 points led the team in defense scoring.

He continued to serve as co-captain the following season, but slipped to second on the team in defense scoring registering 31 points in 52 total games.

After his second season Jones needed to choose whether to play his draft year in the NCAA or with the Silvertips in the WHL.

Jones decided that Everett was not a good fit for him and was expected to attend the University of North Dakota.

After being informed that Jones would not play for them the Silvertips traded the rights to talk to Jones to the Portland Winterhawks for a conditional bantam draft pick, but retained his rights.

Two weeks later, Portland signed Jones and traded two signed players and the rights for two more players to officially complete the trade for acquiring his rights.

He won back-to-back gold medals at the 2011 and 2012 IIHF World U18 Championships.

He was selected fourth overall by the Nashville Predators in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.

After two seasons playing for the United States National Team Development Program, Jones joined the Western Hockey League's (WHL) Portland Winterhawks.

Jones has represented the United States several times internationally.

He was a member of the 2013 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships team that won a gold medal.

Jones was born in Arlington, Texas, to Amy and Ronald "Popeye" Jones, when his father was a member of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Dallas Mavericks.

He is the middle of the couple's three children, all sons, with Justin being older and Caleb younger.

Jones began playing hockey at the age of five when the family was living in Denver, Colorado, while his father was playing for the Nuggets.

Justin wanted to play inline hockey with friends.

Justin and Seth were given inline skates and in the winter received ice hockey skates.

Not knowing much about ice hockey, Popeye asked Hockey Hall of Famer Joe Sakic, then playing in Denver with the Colorado Avalanche, for advice to help his sons become better players after running into him at the Pepsi Center, where both of their respective teams played.

Sakic told Popeye to have his sons work on their skating, knowing they would likely have size and natural athleticism.

As a result, Seth took skating classes for a year before he began playing organized hockey at age six.

While playing for Portland, Jones was projected to be a top selection in the 2013 National Hockey League (NHL) Entry Draft.

At the season's mid-way point the NHL Central Scouting ranked Jones as the number one prospect among North American Skaters and the International Scouting Services listed him first overall.

Jones finished the season with 14 goals and 56 points in 61 games.

In the playoffs Portland won the Ed Chynoweth Cup as champions of the WHL.

In the Memorial Cup tournament the Winterhawks advanced to the final, where they faced the Halifax Mooseheads.

In the final Jones scored a goal in a 6–4 loss, draft rivals Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin each recorded 5 points for Halifax.

Jones finished the playoffs with 5 goals and 15 points in 21 games.

He was named to the First All-Star Team of the Western Conference and won the Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy as WHL rookie of the year.