Seth Jones is playing less and producing more for the Panthers

Seth Jones didn't suddenly learn how to play offense this week. The Panthers just stopped asking him to play half the game, and the points came the next night. Fewer minutes, fresher legs, more damage. That's the story of the blue line right now, and it's a better story than "he's on a heater."

Here's the Ferda number, by our count from NHL data. In the first four games, Jones averaged 27:43 a night and had one point. In the four games since Aaron Ekblad came back for the home opener, he's averaged 24:08 and has eight.

That's three and a half fewer minutes a night and eight times the production, which is the most efficient trade Florida has made all season.

What changed on the ice

When you're playing 29 minutes, like Jones did in the opener against Carolina, you manage every shift. You make the safe outlet, you take the change, and you save something for the third period, because nobody jumps into the rush on that kind of workload.

At 24 minutes, he can. A defenseman with gas left walks the line, joins the second wave and gets pucks through instead of into shin pads. The score sheet says that's exactly who he's been for four games.

The run started with two points against Buffalo. Then came four assists in a 7-3 win in Columbus on Tuesday, which tied the franchise record for a defenseman in one game. He added two more Thursday as Brady Tkachuk scored his second straight hat trick and the cats got out of Vancouver in overtime.

That's one goal and eight assists through eight games, at 25:55 a night. Only a handful of skaters in the league are playing more.

The power play isn't the reason

Here's the part I like: his power-play time is down, not up. He averaged 6:43 a game on the man advantage over the first four and 4:39 over the last four. Thursday he got 2:23.

Four of his nine points came on the power play, so the unit matters. But most of this run is five-on-five, and that's the version of Jones that wins in April.

"I try to do my part and be the best player I can be out there, whether it's 5-on-5 or special teams," Jones said.

Paul Maurice pointed somewhere else. "He had a great summer of training with Aaron Ekblad," he said.

Lineup watch

Gustav Forsling hasn't had a point in six games, and he doesn't need one. He's the reason Jones can roam. Somebody has to stay home, and Forsling has made a career of it.

Jacob Markstrom and Radko Gudas are both day-to-day and aiming for next week's game in Ottawa. When Gudas comes back, Maurice gets one more body for the hard minutes, and he can trim Jones a little further.

I wouldn't push it under 23. He's the best puck-mover on the roster, and this team has 10 points through eight games with a lineup full of holes. But the first week proved what 28 minutes does to him, and the second week proved what 24 does.

Pabs' read: keep him around 24 minutes and let him hunt. A defenseman who can drive a game like this is rare, and burning him out by Halloween would be a very old-Panthers way to waste one.