Salary Cap Projections Update For Next Season Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MTk2MTY4MjE1MjEzMTIyNzA1/usatsi_19892241.jpg] The fire sale in Nashville continues. The Nashville Predators sold off another valuable asset ahead of the trade deadline on Sunday evening, sending forward Tanner Jeannot to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for defenseman Cal Foote, a 2025 first-round pick, a 2024 second-round pick, and a third, fourth, and fifth-round pick in 2023. The 2025 first-rounder is top-10 protected. What a package. Jeannot, 25, is an undoubtedly skilled player, having burst onto the scene in his first full NHL season last year with an impressive 24 goals and 41 points in 81 games that turned heads across the league. This season, however, has not been as productive, with Jeannot sitting at just five goals and nine assists for 14 points in 56 games, all while logging just over 15 minutes in nightly ice time. The Lightning clearly see Jeannot as a fit for their system, and a potentially cost-controlled value add who is only now entering his prime. But to forfeit such a sizable collection of assets for a player with just four goals on the season is quite the risk for GM Julien BriseBois, who is seemingly pulling out all the stops to keep his club's contention window open. Tampa Bay does not have its first-rounders in the next three drafts at this point, and the earliest pick it has in 2023 is a sixth-rounder. Tampa Bay has made deadline moves like this before. Last year, the Bolts traded their 2023 and 2024 first-round picks in a package to the Chicago Blackhawks to get Brandon Hagel, and he has 49 points in 58 games this season. They also traded a 2020 first-round pick and Nolan Foote to New Jersey for Blake Coleman in the 2019-20 season, and he played a supportive role in two Stanley Cup runs before joining the Calgary Flames in 2021-22. As for the Predators, this trade puts them at 11 picks for the 2023 NHL draft in Nashville, four picks in the first two rounds in 2024 and two first-rounders in 2025. After the Predators announced GM David Poile will be retiring and replaced by longtime NHL coach Barry Trotz on July 1, it looks like Nashville will be giving the incoming GM a healthy dose of prospects and draft picks for the future. Only time will tell if this massive swing will pay off for Tampa Bay as the team looks to win its third Stanley Cup in four seasons.
