In his second move of the morning, Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois traded forward Tanner Jeannot to the Los Angeles Kings for a 2025 second-round pick and the 118th pick in the 2024 draft. The Bolts continued to clear out salary cap space following their blockbuster Mikhail Sergachev deal earlier in the day.
Mr. BriseBois recoups a few assets after emptying the trade bank for Jeannot at the 2023 trade deadline. The big, hard-hitting forward never quite found his footing in Tampa, as he struggled with consistency and health. In 75 games for the Lightning, Jeannot scored 8 goals and added 10 assists while dealing with a myriad of injuries.
His name had popped up more than once in trade rumors this summer as the Lightning looked to clear out cap space for either re-signing captain Steven Stamkos or landing a big-name free agent winger such as Jake Guentzel. With the deal, the Lightning shaved $2.65 million off of next year’s cap and now sit at $16,500,000 in cap space with 16 signed players on the roster.
Tampa Bay also added a few draft picks with these deals. They now have two second-round picks in the 2025 draft that can be used to continue to restock their farm system or as trade pieces at next season’s deadline. It’s also possible that Mr. BriseBois isn’t done moving picks around for the remainder of today’s draft.
Just 24 hours after it seemed like franchise icon Steven Stamkos would test free agency due to the Lightning not finding enough room under the cap, these concurrent moves have allowed some hope to creep into the fanbase that a deal can now be worked out.
