After an early playoff exit, the Lightning will go into this season looking to re-capture success. Tanner Jeannot is one player under pressure to perform, writes Adam Proteau.

We’re nearing the end of the NHL’s 2023 off-season, but we’re still going strong on this THN.com Hot Seat series, in which we’re breaking down the different types of pressure felt by the league’s players, GMs, coaches and team owners.

In this series, we’re examining NHL teams in alphabetical order, identifying one player, coach, GM or team owner as an individual on the hot seat, facing major pressure to post above-average results in 2023-24, or wind up in the team’s doghouse; a second NHL player, coach, GM or team owner will be placed on the warm seat as someone unlikely to be fired or traded immediately, but who could be moved on from sometime in the next year; and a third player, team owner, GM or coach will be on the cold seat as a person very likely to stay with their team for the long term.

Lightning’s Hot Seat: Tanner Jeannot, LW

There are very few Bolts in a hot seat position. That said, the Lightning gave up a boatload of draft picks – Tampa’s first-round draft pick in 2025, their second-round pick in 2024, and the Lightning’s third, fourth and fifth-rounders in 2023 – but his impact with the Bolts was minimal, as he posted only one goal and four points in 20 regular-season games after the trade. Jeannot also didn’t have a notable impact in the post-season, with zero points in three games against the Maple Leafs. Health was an issue for him, but the Lightning clearly expected more than they got out of him.

Jeannot needed a new contract for the 2023-24 campaign, and he agreed to a two-year deal that has an annual salary cap hit of $2.665 million. If he can return to the form he showed in 2021-22, when he put up 24 goals and 41 points in 81 games, Jeannot will likely get a more lucrative extension in 2025, but if the 26-year-old fails to generate that amount of offense, he’ll probably be walked away from once his contract expires.

Lightning’s Warm Seat: Victor Hedman, D

Let’s be clear – Hedman is in no danger of being traded. At age 32, the Swede doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone, but despite the fact he was the Lightning’s second-most-utilized player (with a per-game on-ice average of 23:43), and he’s still better than most blueliners on the planet. However, it was also apparent last season that Hedman – even if he was dealing with health issues, which he clearly was – didn’t have the Norris Trophy-caliber year he’d made a habit of. Indeed, Hedman posted career-highs in 2021-22, amassing 20 goals and 85 points in 82 games. But, those totals dropped to nine goals and 49 points in 76 games last season.

Hedman has two years remaining on his contract, which has a cap hit of $7.875 million. He’s not overpaid by any metric, and he’s not going to be traded by Bolts GM Julien BriseBois. But the Lightning could be in a dogfight to make the playoffs this season, and they need more out of him than he delivered last season. If he can’t pull his weight, a pay cut could be in order in 2025, but he can assure himself of a similar payday if he rebounds this season and continues to play well in the following season. He’s a Lightning legend, but with Tampa’s playoff success, he has a lot of miles on his odometer, and Father Time will eventually come for him, as it does for everyone.

Lightning’s Cold Seat: Jon Cooper, Coach

Cooper is the longest-tenured coach in the league, having worked as Tampa Bay’s bench boss since 2013. Ten years as coach is an eternity in NHL circles, but Cooper has come through for a very long period of time, and even if the worst-case scenario for the Lightning comes to be and they fail to make the playoffs in 2023-24, the Bolts will not fire Cooper. If they did, he’d last for about 60 seconds on the open market before a team would scoop him up and make him their coach.

Cooper’s stats with Tampa – 797 regular-season games, 480 wins, 250 losses, and 67 overtime or shootout losses - are phenomenal. He has two Stanley Cup wins and three Cup Final appearances in the past four seasons, and nobody coaching has that type of success. Cooper has never won the NHL’s Jack Adams Award as the league’s top coach, and that is a mistake by the members of the NHL Broadcasters Association, who vote on the Award.

So long as the Lightning have a core of excellent talent, Cooper will figure out ways to make them competitive. He is in the second-to-last season of a three-year contract, and he’s almost assuredly going to sign an extension before his deal expires. Cooper has earned his job security, and he’s going to be a fixture in Tampa Bay for as long as he chooses to be.