Looking Back (2024-25)
- All stats with LA
- 67 Games Played
- 7 Goals
- 6 Assists
- 13 Points
- 89 Penalty Minutes
Tanner Jeannot is coming into the 2025-26 season at the valley of his on-ice value. Or at least, that’s what it feels like after his 2024-25.
Jeannot was the centerpiece pickup of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s deadline in 2022-23, and from the get-go it was a headscratcher; Jeannot had only ever been a middle six player who had cracked 24 goals once in his entire career, and thus after one full season and it becoming increasingly clear that getting him had been a mistake, they traded him to the Kings
in 2024 for a 4th round pick. The Kings got roughly the exact same production with slightly more games played. Over that time, Jeannot’s on-ice impact could best be described as “doesn’t embarrass himself in his own end but that’s about it”, and that’s about the most charitable description of his game that doesn’t involve the phrase “aura farming” or even more cynically, “branding genius.”
Part of what made Jeannot’s repeated moves so baffling was the continued cost that teams were willing to pay to get a player like him. While yes, being 6’2 and 220 pounds is pretty impressive, it’s clear that whatever scoring touch he had was probably not coming back, and as such Jeannot had to trade on his physicality more than anything else. Maybe good for a couple of decent fights, injuries that kept him out for long stretches of time, and being third from the bottom on the Kings in terms of possession, and 14th among regular skaters on the Kings in terms of quality chances. Repeatedly, teams have paid kings ransoms for a depth player who was good at scoring precisely once, and experiencing serious buyers remorse within six months.
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He was a free agent a year later. The Boston Bruins picked him up for five years on a No Trade Clause.
What’s Ahead in 2025-26?
Jeannot’s shine as a power forward has begun to dim considerably, and even in a market that lionizes the contact part of this contact sport, we have been burned heavily by big player after big player who talks a big game, is sold as both a physical and scoring threat, and then either inconsistently does it or does it in a way that makes people angry, or the offense never materializes. Jeannot’s 2024-25 suggests that we are in for yet more of this unless he shows up to preseason ready to kick ass in a way he hasn’t kicked ass in an increasingly long time.
However, if there is something that could work in his favor, it’s that John Beecher and Matthew Poitras, guys who have been projected to be linemates of his come the end of preseason, are defensively responsible players that could help create An Shutdown Line alongside him. Since Jeannot at least doesn’t embarrass himself in his own end, there’s a chance this could give him a second wind in his career as respectable depth being treated as respectable depth. This will of course be looped into the same dumb narratives that follow this team around, but the alternative is
The “Bruins Bump” that the team seems to be at least partially aware of is a little more selective than it has been in recent years, but if you must hang onto this player who has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he will probably disappoint you, then he can at least be a grizzled veteran that teaches two promising talents how to be a strong 4th line in 2030.
The player from 2021 may not return, but there is An Role for this player if the Bruins are willing to be intelligent about it. And maybe have a list together of teams they might have to call if he disappoints again. Buyers remorse seems to follow Jeannot around these days, and handing him an NTC made getting something for him that much harder.
