During the 2024 NHL Draft last year, the Los Angeles Kings made a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning for forward Tanner Jeannot. The Kings would send the Lightning a 2024 fourth-round pick and a 2025 second-round pick, which the Lightning just used over the weekend.
When the Kings made the trade, they wanted to get more physical up front, and Jeannot certainly delivered in that regard. He would play in 67 games for the Kings and had seven goals and six assists, but led the team in hits with 211 and had over 50 more hits than the next player on the team.
Unfortunately, Jeannot suffered an injury towards the end of the regular season that forced him to miss the playoffs and his absence was clearly felt against the Edmonton Oilers.
Now with the 2025 NHL Draft in the books, let's take a look back at the trade and the two prospects the Tampa Bay Lightning got with the LA Kings picks.
Tampa Bay Lightning selected Jan Golicic with the 118th pick in the 2024 NHL Draft
Jan Golicic is a big defenseman at 6'5" who has played the past two seasons in the QMJHL in Slovenia. He has played in over 100 games over those two seasons and has 64 points. He also played recently for Team Slovenia at the World Championship.
Tampa Bay Lightning selected Ethan Czata with the 56th pick in the 2025 NHL Draft
In the recent NHL Draft, the Tanner Jeannot trade was essentially completed when the Lightning selected Ethan Czata, who has played the past two seasons for the Niagara IceDogs in the OHL. The center had a breakout season this past year with 21 goals and 34 assists in 68 games.
The Lightning would select Czata only a few picks ahead of the LA Kings after they made a trade on Friday night to move back in the first round and pick up an extra second round pick from the Pittsburgh Penguins. One of the reasons they made the trade was because of this trade as they didn't have a second round pick.
There is certainly something to be said about the fact that the LA Kings only had Tanner Jeannot for one season, and time will tell how these players develop, but the Kings ultimately got what they wanted from Jeannot last season and considering that, it is hard to find much wrong with the trade.