Nashville Predators 2022-23 Season Preview: Tanner Jeannot

One player who had a great rookie season and was vital to the Nashville Predators depth and identity would be none other than Tanner Jeannot.

Without Jeannot’s production, physicality, and work-ethic, you have to wonder how the Preds would’ve festered without him. Jeannot was called up to the team during the shortened 2020-21 season, and right out of the gate was impressing everyone with his hard-hitting physical style of play. The undrafted forward is one of the best identity players this team has, and throughout the 2021-22 season earned a reputation around the league.

Before Tanner Jeannot, the Preds had Mathieu Olivier on the original Herd line, but once Jeannot filled his role briefly, he surprised everyone coming into the lineup with a bang. Ever since, Jeannot has been a mainstay on this roster, and will be vital to the 2022-23 season and beyond.

Jeannot Poised to Start Second Season With Preds

Tanner Jeannot joined the cast of Nashville Predators who had career years, and he himself put up a solid rookie season. In the 2021-22 season, Jeannot posted 24 goals and 17 assists, good for 41 points. Not bad at all for his rookie season as a third-liner.

Tanner Jeannot is known as an absolute bulldozer. Night in and night out the kid is just laying the body on the opposition, and playing to the identity Head Coach John Hynes has envisioned for his team. Last season, Jeannot put up a whopping 318 hits, exactly what you need for the identity of the team.

Not only can Jeannot play physical, he also knows how to score. Jeannot loves to hang around the blue paint, but also has a lot of skill and can be creative to find the back of the net. Just take a look at this goal from October 24 last season, where Jeannot bats the puck out of thin air to put it past Minnesota Wild goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen.

Defensively, Jeannot isn’t scared at all of putting his body on the line. The forward had 64 blocked shots during the 2021-22 season, good for 7th place on the roster.

As a penalty killer, Jeannot was almost always on the 1st unit, and cashed in with 1 shorthanded goal last season. While he only has 1 shorthanded goal, that doesn’t take away from how vital of a penalty killer Jeannot is, and that is evident by how long he is on the ice for each kill.

2022-23 Season Outlook and Predictions for Jeannot.

With Jeannot only being in his second full season with the Nashville Predators, expect him to only get stronger from here. While he could see some ice time in the top 6 briefly like he did last season, I expect him to be on the Herd line full-time next season.

I can see Jeannot being more comfortable this season, and with a full season already under his belt, we could see his production turn up a bit. I don’t want to set wild expectations and say he will be a 40+ goal scorer, but I expect his point production to go up slightly from the 41 he posted last season.

Jeannot will be joined by a veteran Colton Sissons centering him and fellow winger Yakov Trenin, who just recently was re-signed to a new deal. Expect these three to continue to set the physical tone as they have in the past.

Without Jeannot, I just don’t think the Preds would have found the success they did last season. Expect him to continue to be a big key player for the team.

For my final prediction, I’m guessing he will pick up offensive production slightly, and will do that by using his physical style to force turnovers and get on the forecheck. I think he’ll finish with 28 goals and 24 assists, good for 52 points for the 2022-23 season.