While the Los Angeles Kings are almost certain to bring back Vladislav Gavrikov after this season and Andrei Kuzmenko has made a strong case for the Kings to do the same with the forward, Tanner Jeannot's future with the team is a little less uncertain. This is not necessarily because he hasn't been productive in his first season with the Kings but rather they might have found a cheaper option in the form of Jeff Malott.
The Kings traded a 2024 fourth-round pick and a 2025 second-round pick before the NHL Draft last year to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Tanner Jeannot. This season, Jeannot has brought some size and physicality to the forward group and leads the team in hits with 211.
He has spent most of the season on the fourth line and after the Kings moved Alex Turcotte down to that line with Samuel Helenius, Jeannot started to find more of the scoring touch and had two goals and two assists in his last three games.
Unfortunately, he suffered an injury against the New York Rangers on March 25th and has missed the past few weeks.
Jeff Malott making the most of his time with the Los Angeles Kings
The Kings would bring up Jeff Malott from the Ontario Reign in place of Jeannot and he has been excellent at filling the role for this offense that Jeannot did. He has good size and been physical with 10 hits in seven games and is not afraid of a fight.
Brandon Carlo and Jeff Malott got some SHOTS in during this tilt 👀 pic.twitter.com/pEKrKlm2OV
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) March 29, 2025
Malott almost had his first career NHL goal against the Oilers with this highlight reel play but unfortunately it was reviewed and waived off after the Kings were offsides prior to the shot.
Jeff Malott scores an absolute beauty for his first NHL goal—only to have it overturned by an offside review#GoKingsGo #LetsGoOilers #LAKvsEDM pic.twitter.com/LCkRoZLT0w
— LA Royalty (@LARoyalty1967) April 5, 2025
Malott began his professional hockey career with the Winnipeg Jets in 2020 but spent most of his time in the AHL. He would appear in only one NHL game before this season, which was during the 2021-22 season and he had only four minutes of ice time but had three hits in those four minutes.
He would sign a two-year contract with the Kings this offseason and fit right in with the Ontario Reign with 23 goals and 28 assists in 61 games before being called up. The fact that he is under contract next season as well is what makes the negotiations with Tanner Jeannot so interesting.
The Kings probably would love to bring Jeannot back but they don't necessarily need to overpay to keep him. Jeff Malott has shown he can step into this role and be productive on a reasonable contract that can help the Kings allocate cap space elsewhere.