Seeking snarl, Bruins invite loads of threat with Jeannot contract

Don Sweeney was fast to retort when requested concerning the decision-making course of that culminated in multi-year contract doled out to ahead Tanner Jeannot on the primary day of NHL free company.

A participant with Jeannot’s bruising method on the ice can deliver worth to an NHL membership, particularly in a bottom-six function. 

However in a free-agent market rife with pugnacious forwards keen to drop the gloves and hammer puck carriers at a bargain-bin value, the Bruins opted to make a big dedication to the 28-year-old winger. 

A five-year deal — price $3.4 million per season.

It was a contract that raised eyebrows throughout the hockey world — with AFP Analytics projecting the winger to obtain a two-year contract at a $1.42 million annual cap hit.

Even when Jeannot’s popularity as a heat-seeking missile stays validated at this stage of his profession, his worth has taken a success in relation to his manufacturing down the opposite finish of the ice.

After scoring 24 objectives over 81 video games throughout a breakout 2021-22 season, Jeannot has solely lit the lamp 20 instances over the past three seasons — averaging simply 6.7 objectives per 12 months.

For a Bruins staff whose deadly flaw final season rested in its incapacity to seek out the again of the web, committing a long-term deal to a participant like Jeannot felt like a stretch — particularly given the inflow of different bottom-six skaters that Boston signed on Tuesday (Sean Kuraly, Mikey Eyssimont).

For Sweeney, the choice to herald a participant with Jeannot’s profile — particularly on an prolonged contract — revolves round a number of components. 

“I believe the youthful expert gamers that we plan to include transferring ahead are going to want just a little respiration room. I believe Tanner goes to deliver quite a lot of that,” Sweeney stated. “I believe the room itself, his management expertise, how he prepares to play the sport, I believe that each one simply boils over into what we have to proceed to enhance upon. And likewise assist.

 “David [Paastrnak] and Charlie [McAvoy] particularly, they’re entering into management conditions. They’ve been assistant captains and such, however there’s lots that goes into being at that higher echelon stage of management and what’s required of you, together with being an elite participant within the Nationwide Hockey League. … I believe bringing in additional gamers which are able to offering retailers and aid in that sense performs an enormous a part of what staff success is all about.”

Even when Jeannot’s management and off-the-ice intangibles will probably be welcomed on a Bruins staff set to include youthful expertise over the following few years, it stays to be seen simply how Jeannot will be capable of generate sufficient manufacturing to validate his contract.

The simplest method to do this is by replicating that 2021-22 season, when the 6-foot-2 ahead seemed just like the second coming of Tom Wilson (24 objectives, 310 hits). 

Even Sweeney acknowledged that it may be asking lots for Jeannot to provide these comparable baseline outcomes — even when they’re desperately wanted on a Bruins staff with one viable top-six line of Elias Lindholm, Morgan Geekie, and Pastrnak. 

“I don’t know if he’s getting again to scoring 27 objectives. I certain hope so,” Sweeney stated. “Deep down we expect he’ll deliver an entire lot extra vitality to our group, that we’d like. The physicality is there. We run by means of a tricky division. I simply assume everyone will get just a little taller. 

“I believe if we quick ahead what we’ve tried to do from a draft perspective, a watch in the direction of that as properly and introducing these younger gamers — that we hopefully are infusing ability — I do consider that the complement Tanner brings will assist in that regard.”

The outcomes are there for Jeannot in relation to his battering-ram popularity. 

Over the past 5 seasons, the Saskatchewan native has landed 1,083 hits. Solely Brady Tkachuk, Garnet Hathaway, and Keegan Kolesar have landed extra smacks towards opposing skaters throughout that prolonged stretch of video games. 

Jeannot believes that even when his offensive manufacturing doesn’t spike in 2025-26, he can pull on the rope in quite a lot of methods to assist his staff down each ends of the ice. 

“I attempt to make different guys know that I’m on the ice and make them really feel uncomfortable and perhaps that makes them eliminate pucks just a little faster, put their teammates in a more durable spot,” Jeannot. “That tends to create extra turnovers and will get the puck into my staff’s fingers just a little extra typically. That’s the kind of ingredient that I can deliver to a line.”

Because the mud settles from the Bruins’ uninspiring free-agency spending spree, it seems as if a Boston staff increase its prospect pipeline believes its most urgent want within the NHL ranks revolves round resetting the tradition, urgency, and sandpaper method that has been woven into the Unique Six franchise for years.

However as Boston tries to construct up a brand new core and open a sustainable competition window, it stays to be seen if those self same pugnacious ideas are the foundations towards constructing a juggernaut in at the moment’s sport. 

“That’s the kind of staff that, if you are able to do it persistently for your complete 12 months and into the playoffs, it’s a very exhausting staff to beat,” Jeannot stated. “It simply wears different groups down. We’re going to be a staff that groups aren’t going to be desirous to go towards. When they’ll see the Boston Bruins coming into city, they realize it’s going to be a struggle.

“That’s the way it at all times has been. That’s been the Bruins tradition. I really feel like me as a participant, I’ve at all times tried to embody that sort of tradition. In order that’s what actually excites me about coming there. I wish to be an enormous a part of that. An enormous a part of that tradition, an enormous a part of this staff success, and it’s a very thrilling time.”

 

Conor Ryan is a workers author protecting the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Purple Sox for Boston.com, a task he has held since 2023.