Did The Lightning Overpay For Tanner Jeannot?
The Eastern Conference is loading up and Tampa Bay didn’t want to hit the snooze button any longer. The Lightning have acquired power forward Tanner Jeannot. I’m just not sure they can actually justify the price tag required to reel in the former Predators forward. Did the Lightning overpay for Jeannot and if so, was it worth it?
The easy answer to question number one is yes, obviously Tampa overpaid. I think Frank Seravalli’s tweet summarized things pretty well. Jaws on the floor when you saw the return that Nashville got back.
Let’s go a step further and put this return into even more context just to fully give you the picture of how bad the Lightning must have wanted Jeannot. It was almost like Tampa knew they were getting ripped off and decided that they didn’t care. This was the missing piece to another Stanley Cup. Maybe they’re right. On the surface, it’s still impossible to not question it.
Yes, you are reading that correctly. The only trade in the entire Cap Friendly database where a first, second, third, fourth, and fifth round picks were all included in the same trade. A trade that involved a player that was undrafted…
Keep this in mind too. It’s not like Tampa has an endless supply of cap space. I understand they needed to get creative in deals to find players that will fit in their cap. With that being said, this trade return is larger than if someone would have signed Jason Robertson to an offer sheet like I advocated every team to do this offseason.
Jeannot, soon to be 26, is also having a down year after being a Calder candidate last season. Jeannot has 14 points in 56 games this year compared to a 24 goal / 41 point campaign as a rookie. His shooting percentage is also down to 5.7%. In Tampa, even if Jeannot rebounds, he’s going to be stuck in a bottom six role being asked to hit and kill penalties. Oh, and Jeannot is a restricted free agent this Summer and there’s no guarantee they even have the money to keep him.
If the Lightning win the Cup they will have the last laugh. Either way, this trade feels bannas from a cost acquisition standpoint. There is one positive out of this. If this is the new direction of the Predators under Barry Trotz then fans in Nashville should feel very optimistic.
