Saturday’s trade of Nino Niederreiter to Winnipeg indicated that the Predators were set to be sellers at the trade deadline. One name that appears to be in play now is winger Tanner Jeannot as the team announced (Twitter link) that he won’t play tonight against Arizona for trade-related reasons.
Of course, as we’ve seen with how things have played out with Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun, Blue Jackets blueliner Vladislav Gavrikov, and even Canucks rearguard Luke Schenn, receiving this designation does not mean that a trade is imminent. Instead, it could be merely protecting against the risk of him being injured with the deadline now just a few days away. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman indicates (Twitter link) that the Lightning have made a pitch for Jeannot although it doesn’t necessarily mean that’s where he’ll wind up.
Just a few months ago, the idea of Nashville even considering the possibility of moving Jeannot would have been unthinkable. Here’s a 25-year-old player whose rookie season was quite impressive as he picked up 24 goals and 17 assists in 2021-22 along with 318 hits, becoming a legitimate power forward in the process. That enabled him to finish seventh in Calder Trophy voting and it appears that the Preds had another part of their long-term core in place.
However, things haven’t gone anywhere near as well this time around. This season, Jeannot has just five goals and nine assists in 56 games even though his playing time (15:05 per game) is pretty close to where it was a year ago (15:58). The physicality is still there (213 hits) but instead of being a top-six producer, Jeannot’s stats are closer to that of an energetic fourth liner.
Earlier this month, the Predators had started discussions on a contract extension but clearly, those haven’t led anywhere just yet. Now, it appears that they’re circling back to teams that showed interest in him previously with the idea of moving him while his value should still be high. He’ll be affordable on just about everyone’s salary cap as he carries an AAV of just $800K this season. He’ll be owed a qualifying offer of just under $900K but with salary arbitration eligibility this summer, he’s in line for a significant raise even with his struggles this season. In the meantime, it appears as if there’s a chance that someone will be adding an intriguing power forward to their squad in the coming days.