How Impactful will Tanner Jeannot be Next Season for Lightning?
By Alfred Ezman
It was a quiet postseason for the newly-acquired left Tampa Bay Lightning winger from Saskatchewan. Tanner Jeannot appeared in just three games against the Maple Leafs while putting up no points. Now as a Restricted Free Agent, Jeannot will likely be brought back on a deal that will create some expectations for him to produce.
It may have been one of the key factors in the Lightning’s downfall, as they wanted to see Jeannot contribute more after securing him in a trade earlier in the season from Nashville.
Tampa Bay Lightning: Only way is up
The trade that landed Jeannot in Tampa as the Lightning sent Cal Foote, 2023 third, fourth, and fifth-round picks, as well as a 2024 second-round pick and a 2025 first-round pick to acquire the winger from the Nashville Predators.
The trade left the Lightning without the majority of their picks in this upcoming draft. They have just a sixth and seventh-round pick in the 2023 draft.
Jeannot offers a lot of talent to the roster. He played very well in Nashville in his three years with the team. He finished with 62 points (34 goals and 28 assists) in 152 games played. However, in the 20 regular season games in Tampa Bay, he had just one goal and three assists.
It was hard for Jeannot just to get adjusted to his new team. After suffering an injury to his lower body, It even kept him out of half of the games against Toronto in the playoffs.
The lack of picks means that Jeannot is viewed to be in the future setup of the Lightning. Both Steven Stamkos and Pat Maroon are left-wingers who are 33 years old and 35 years old, respectively. Jeannot is just 25, and when he is healthy and rightfully adjusted to his team, he can provide lots of scoring, passing, and playmaking to his team.
With the possibility of Alex Killorn or Ross Colton potentially leaving the Tampa Bay Lightning, Jeannot could even find himself sliding up into an increased role.