Well now, apparently it’s time to fire up the speculation machine and talk about Tanner Jeannot. In the immediate aftermath of the deal that brought in Ryan McDonagh, all sorts of talk whipped around the hockey world about how the Lightning would be able to squeeze in a new deal for their captain, Steven Stamkos, and fill out the other holes in the roster with just $5,035,000 in cap space.
In order to forward a legitimate offer to the best player in franchise history, something would have to give. For a lot of folks, that something is Tanner Jeannot. Now, a prominent NHL media outlet has added fuel to that particular fire. Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on their most recent 32 Thoughts podcast discussed the possibility of Jeannot being on the move this summer.
After mentioning the surprising McDonagh deal, Marek raises the questions of who the odd person out would be and Friedman replied with Tanner Jeannot. He follows with this quote (slightly edited for clarity):
“I got a couple of calls from people saying that’s going to be one to watch. His salary, which is about $2.6 [million], Tampa could use the space, and it really hasn’t worked out as well as everyone has hoped there between him and the Lightning, but there are a lot of teams out there that see something, and they think he is more the player in Nashville then he was the player in Tampa Bay.
So I do think that depending on everything that Tampa is going to want to do, they’re going to have to consider it and I do think there are teams out there that are interested.”
Marek then speculated on Jeannot being a fit for the Calgary Flames. Friedman stated that he hadn’t “heard that”, but it makes a lot of sense.
Given the normal tight-lipped operation that the Lightning run, it’s not like they’re leaking this information out, so, even with Friedman’s track record, take it all with a grain of salt. Friedman is one of the best connected reporters in the business and, had this been reported by just about anyone else, I’m not sure it’s even worth mentioning.
Would trading Jeannot to Calgary for a couple of draft picks be enough to get everything done? Not really. Freeing up his $2,665,000 million would bring the Lightning’s total space back up to $7.7 million. If Stamkos signs for a reasonable deal, say 4-years at $6.25 million AAV, that still leaves the team with just $1,450,000 to fill three or four roster spots. They will still need two forwards to fill out their third and fourth lines as well as a seventh defenseman or thirteenth forward.
So, even if Jeannot is moved without the Lightning having to retain any salary cap, another player is likely coming off of the roster. Outside of a cornerstone piece like Anthony Cirelli or Erik Cernak, the cost of replacing a player might not justify the savings. For instance, trading Nick Perbix’s $1,125,000 cap hit is really, at best, a savings of $350,000 considering the Lightning would have to replace him on the roster with a player making at least $775,000, which is the league minimum for 2024-25.
With a lot of general manager’s there would also be the pride consideration. Just because they spent a lot of assets on bringing in a player, they want to hold onto that player until it works out. While you can disagree with some of Julien BriseBois’ moves, it is hard to argue that he lets pride or nostalgia get in his way. If he is able to improve the team by trading Jeannot, he will do it in a heartbeat. For better or worse, no player is too sacred to the overall goal of making the team better.
It’s been a tough stretch for Tanner Jeannot in Tampa so far. In 75 regular season games with the Lightning he’s posted just 8 goals against an expected goals of 11.04. It is interesting to see that a lot of his periphery numbers last season were in line with what he was doing during his first two seasons when he put up 29 goals in 95 games with Nashville. The glaring difference comes in his shooting percentage. From 2020-2022 he scored on 20% of the shots he put on net. With the Lightning, that number is at 10%.
Perhaps Friedman is right and there are some teams out there that think the soon-to-be 27-year-old still has some of that shooting magic left in him and it’s worth a shot if they can get him at a buy-low price. It is worth noting that his modified no-trade clause kicks in on July 1st, which would give Mr. BriseBois 16 fewer teams to work out a trade with, so there is a chance, that if it is going to happen, it will happen over the next couple of weeks.
Personally, I think there is still a role that Jeannot can fill on the Lightning as a bottom-six forward that drives possession (the team was above 50% at 5v5 in shot attempts and high-danger chances last season with him on the ice). However, if it comes down to Jeannot or Stamkos suiting up in the blue and white on opening day next season, I’ll take Stamkos every day of the week and three times on Sunday.
Other Hockey News
Ilya Usau clears waivers, contract will be terminated [The Hockey News]
There was one roster transaction over the holiday weekend as the Lightning put forward Ilya Usau on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract. The 22-year-old had one season left on his entry-level contract that was signed in March of 2022. In two seasons with the organization he was unable to crack the Lightning line-up, and appeared in 99 games for the Syracuse Crunch, scoring 11 goals with 19 assists. He was scratched for the playoffs and will likely be heading back to the KHL where he played with Dinamo Minsk before the Lightning signed him.
Blue Jackets expected to hire Don Waddell as GM [Sportsnet]
After stepping down from the post in Carolina last week, Waddell appears to be on the verge of joining the Columbus Blue Jackets as their new general manager. He build a perennial playoff contender with the Hurricanes, so Columbus fans should be excited to see what he can do after their organization was stuck in neutral the last few seasons.
Is it time for Eric Tulsky to become the Hurricanes’ GM [Daily FaceOff]
With Waddell’s departure, assistant general manager Eric Tulsky was named as the team’s interim GM. The former analytics consultant has worked his way up the organization since joining them in 2014 and has an intimate knowledge of the roster. It’s very likely that he will take over the role permanently.
Dan Bylsma expected to be the next head coach of the Seattle Kraken [The Seattle Times]
As early as today, former Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma could be back behind a NHL bench as sources report that he will become the second head coach in Seattle Kraken history. Bylsma, who won a Stanley Cup with the Penguins after joining them in the 2009-10 season, has been the head coach of the Coachella Valley FireBirds, the Kraken’s AHL affiliate, since the 2022-23 season.
