Bruins faced 'fierce' competition from Maple Leafs, NY Rangers ahead of locking-in $17M forward, reveals NHL insider

The Boston Bruins signed forward Tanner Jeannot to a five-year, $17 million contract on Tuesday, making the Bruins his fourth NHL team. Now, it's a surprise because the 28-year-old forward has changed four teams over his five-season-long NHL career.

Jeannot's deal has an average yearly value of $3.4 million. Jeannot played last season with the Los Angeles Kings but missed time due to a lower-body injury. He scored 13 points in 67 games. Now, he will join the Bruins for the 2024-25 season.

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman said Boston faced strong competition to sign Jeannot. On Sunday's episode of the "32 Thoughts podcast," Friedman mentioned that about 10 teams were interested in him.

"The one thing I think that happened with Boston was I heard there were like 10 teams after this guy," Friedman said. [41:17] "Like, I heard the competition for Tanner Jeannot was fierce. I heard the Rangers were in it. I heard Ottawa was in it. Like, it fits with Toronto because of what Toronto likes."

The LA Kings had reportedly offered less than $2 million per year at first. Boston made a better offer, and Jeannot chose to join them.

"And I heard initially the Kings' offer to him was something like under 2 million a year the first time," Friedman said. "... (but) now he has to stay healthy... But I think there were a ton of teams after him. There's not a guy, a lot of guys like him."

Jeannot began his NHL career with the Nashville Predators in the 2020-21 season. He is known for being physical, with 403 penalty minutes. His best year was in 2021-22, when he scored 24 goals and 41 points. He later played for the Tampa Bay Lightning but saw a drop in production, recording only 6 goals in 76 games in 2022-23. After a brief time with the LA Kings, he’s now moving to Boston.

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Bruins GM talked about Tanner Jeannot's 'derailed' performance

The Bruins believe Tanner Jeannot fits their style of play. He is big, strong, and plays a hard game. General Manager Don Sweeney also talked about Tanner Jeannot's health issues.

“Obviously, he popped a few years ago. He’s had some injuries since then that have probably derailed (him)," Sweeney said. "...I don’t know if he’s getting back to scoring 27 goals, (but) I sure hope so. Deep down, he believes he’ll bring a lot more energy to our group...,"

Boston hopes he can bring both grit and scoring to their lineup. But like Friedman said, staying healthy will be important for him this season.