SUNRISE, Fla. — The opportunity to acquire a defenseman like Seth Jones might seem like a simple decision. It was not that way for the Florida Panthers.

A day after pulling off the deal that brought Jones in from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for goaltender Spencer Knight, Panthers general manager and hockey operations president Bill Zito said the Stanley Cup champions took their time before finally executing the move and agreeing to bring on Jones — who has five years left on a big-money contract.

“Obviously, this isn’t a decision made over 10 minutes,” Zito said Sunday. “Lots of time and energy and effort and research in all areas of the game, whether it’s live scouting, knowing somebody, the analytic side, the coachability. And as we went through it, he just continued to check every box. Those are the kinds of guys we can commit to, and we think that he’ll thrive in our environment.”

Jones, the No. 4 pick in the 2013 draft, will be introduced by the Panthers on Monday following the team’s morning skate in advance of its home game against the rival Tampa Bay Lightning. He is expected to quickly fill a marquee spot on the Florida blue line. Some Panthers players already know Jones well — he and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky were teammates in Columbus, for example.

The trade came at a high price. The Panthers will be on the hook for 74% of Jones’ average salary of $9.5 million over the next five years; Chicago retained the other 26%. And Knight was widely considered to be Florida’s goaltender of the future, a 2019 first-round pick who has impressed at every level of hockey.

The Panthers likely aren’t done with their work going into Friday’s trade deadline. Forward Matthew Tkachuk was placed on injured reserve Sunday, indicating that his return from some sort of lower-body injury — he was slowed during the 4 Nations Face-Off event and hasn’t played for the Panthers since that tournament ended — is not imminent.