Nashville’s sky-high trade haul from Tampa Bay for Tanner Jeannot stunned the NHL world

With the NHL trade deadline on the way, the Nashville Predators are raking in the draft picks after sending young forward Tanner Jeannot to the Tampa Bay Lightning. (Check out Mary Clarke’s comprehensive tracker on many of the deals coming through.)

With the Lightning trying to fortify its offense in a treacherous Eastern Conference, the team was willing to send the Preds a king’s ransom for adding Jeannot to the rotation.

After a standout rookie season in 2021-22, Jeannot had cooled a bit for Nashville leading up to his trade. He’s played in 56 games so far this season, notching five goals and nine assists. Jeannot has also posted a 5.7 percent shooting rate lately.

In exchange for Jeannot, Tampa Bay sent retiring general manager David Poile and Nashville a 2025 first-round pick, a 2024 second-round pick, a 2023 third-round pick, a 2023 fourth-round pick, a 2023 third-round pick and young defenseman Cal Foote.

Lightning vice president and general manager Julien BriseBois defended the trade for Jeannot by assessing the risk of draft picks compared to the promise of a young player with experience.

JBB on the cost the #Bolts paid to acquire Jeannot. pic.twitter.com/Qr1VseP2eD

— Chris Krenn (@Chris_Krenn) February 27, 2023

While BriseBois has certainly earned the benefit of the doubt after leading his franchise to back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021, the hefty haul for Jeannot still earned some dropped jaws for NHL fans and beyond.

Although, if Tampa Bay pushes ahead in the Eastern Conference and Jeannot plays a big role, nobody will be doubting the price then.

The stunned reactions to the Jeannot trade are aplenty

One NHL scout on the Tanner Jeannot trade:

“What the actual —”.

— Steven Ellis (@SEllisHockey) February 27, 2023

Hate on David Poile all you want, but to flip an undrafted player like Tanner Jeannot for a 24-year-old former first-round defenseman + FIVE draft picks (including a first rounder) is simply unheard of

— Michael Gallagher (@MGsports_) February 27, 2023

That Tanner Jeannot trade is a very “the East goes through Boston” move by Tampa.

— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) February 27, 2023

Oh my. They turned Tanner Jeannot into an entire draft class. https://t.co/l2zLlu5UCo

— Alex Daugherty (@AlexDaugherty1) February 27, 2023

Holy schnikes … and we’ve got people on here blasting Jarmo Kekalainen for asking a 1st and 3rd for Vladislav Gavrikov?

Tanner Jeannot’s a nice playoff pickup, but the sample size isn’t nearly large enough to say last season wasn’t the outlier in his career.

Wow. https://t.co/TbxzIffoA7

— Brian Hedger (@BrianHedger) February 27, 2023

After trading five picks for Tanner Jeannot, Tampa Bay’s odds of winning the Stanley Cup dropped from 3.7 percent to 3.4 percent.

— dom 🕰️ (@domluszczyszyn) February 27, 2023

Tanner Jeannot goes for about as much as Rangers are going to give up for Tarasenko and Kane combined lol

— Adam Herman (@AdamZHerman) February 27, 2023

I think Tanner Jeannot just went for more than Timo Meier.

lol

— Nick Alberga (@thegoldenmuzzy) February 27, 2023

TB: “Hey, Tanner Jeannot? I’m thinking Cal Foote and a first round pick…”

NSH: “Yeah, I think we…”

TB: “…A second…”

NSH: “Yeah, I think we…”

TB: “… A third, a fourth, and a fifth.”

NSH: “Yeah, I think we can do that. Are you guys okay?”

— The Canes Stats Brand™ (@CanesStats) February 27, 2023

Tanner Jeannot only has four (4) more goals than Linus Ullmark this season.

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 27, 2023

Just got back from my rec league soccer game.

I let in 5 goals.

But I didn’t give up 5 draft picks for Tanner Jeannot, so I got that going for me.

Also, what???? https://t.co/Qh6aImZ8hs

— Ryan Mead (@OhRyanMead) February 27, 2023

Look if I was a seller and I saw what Tanner Jeannot just got as a return I’d trade anyone not nailed down. https://t.co/Rrsc2uLvFZ

— Jared Book (@jaredbook) February 27, 2023