The Tampa Bay Lightning made a major move at the National Hockey League’s trade deadline to acquire gritty forward Tanner Jeannot from the Nashville Predators, but there is now real concern that Jeannot may not even get the chance to participate in this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs.
Earlier this week, Jeannot was injured when he got tangled up with New York Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield, an incident that resulted in both Mayfield and Jeannot himself falling awkwardly on top of Jeannot’s right leg. It was immediately clear that Jeannot was in considerable pain and he was unable to leave the ice under his own power, needing teammates Zach Bogosian and Corey Perry to help him off the ice.
Head coach Jon Cooper admitted following the game that he was worried about Jeannot’s status moving forward, and on Saturday we received more bad news regarding the injured forward.
The Lightning have now confirmed that Jeannot has returned to Tampa to undergo medical evaluation for his injury, one that the Lightning are surely hoping will allow him to return this season.
The Lightning of course made a huge investment in Jeannot at the trade deadline, giving up Cal Foote, a first round pick in 2025, a second round pick in 2024, and a third, fourth, and fifth round pick in 2023 to acquire him. The Lightning would of course hate to lose him for the Stanley Cup playoffs after such a major investment but, the silver lining here is that, with Jeannot being a restricted free agent they will likely have him in the lineup for many more playoff runs to come.
The Lightning will also be without defenseman Mikhail Sergachev tonight, who is anticipating the birth of his child and is away for personal reasons.