Each month, we will present an article in the “Path To The Throne” series, a set of stories that tells how the LA Kings became the LA Kings. The series continues with forward Tanner Jeannot, oner of the newest members of the Kings, who has earned everything he’s gotten on his path to the NHL.
TANNER MAKES IT TWO pic.twitter.com/UrLRpYVyH6
— LA Kings (@LAKings) November 17, 2024
In some ways the journey is what has and continues to define Jeannot. And, with all due respect to Robert Frost, the path he has followed has mostly been the path less traveled by. And, yes, it has made all the difference.
After playing minor hockey in his hometown of Oxbow, Saskatchewan not far from the border with Manitoba and even closer to the U.S. border with North Dakota, Jeannot showed up at his first Western Hockey League training camp in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan in the fall of 2014.
The young man nicknamed The Oxbow Ox for his rambunctious style of play, arrived in Moose Jaw not by way of being drafted or with any kind of advance fanfare but by invitation, basically to fill out training camp lines.
In spite of the low expectations new Moose Jaw Warriors head coach Tim Hunter was blown away by the stocky 17-year-old.
“I was like, who is this kid? He’s like a man,” said Hunter one of the fiercest of competitors during his 815 NHL career regular season games. “He’s just so fit. He just crushed all the testing.”
As much as Hunter was impressed there was no room on the roster for the impressive teen. And so Jeannot was sent home.
But a funny thing happened.
A couple of over-aged players drew Hunter’s ire at a team scrimmage and they unceremoniously departed the team. That opened up a couple of spots and Hunter knew one of them belonged to Jeannot.
It’s a small group of players that Hunter lists as his favorites to have coached, players who made an impact on him with their play, their character and their work ethic. Future Hall of Famer Joe Thornton. Brawny defenseman and former Toronto captain Dion Phaneuf.
Jeannot is part of that group for Hunter.
“I could talk about Tanner Jeannot all day long,” Hunter said. “It didn’t start off the way we wanted it to but it sure ended up the way we wanted. He never looked back. He just got better and better and better.”
Photo by Derek Leung/Getty Images
And it wasn’t just his work at practice and during games but how he was part of a leadership group in the small Saskatchewan city that was an important part of the community’s fabric.
That community spirit would continue with NHL stops in Nashville and Tampa where Jeannot and his wife, who is also from Saskatchewan, were involved in a variety of programs aimed at helping young families and children.
Still, it’s worth noting that for all of the goodwill that would eventually come Jeannot’s way in Moose Jaw and beyond, this is no Hollywood arc. His stat line at the end of his first season in Moose Jaw?
One goal. Four assists. A -13 rating.
Did we mention that the journey is the story? The path less traveled?
“My career? I guess coming up as a kid I was never really the high draft pick or prospect type guy,” Jeannot said. “Growing up in Saskatchewan as a 15 year old I didn’t make major AAA, I played midget AA. The next year I made major AAA. I was never drafted into the WHL. I went to Moose Jaw as an invite to the camp.”
In fact, in that brief period between being sent home from Moose Jaw and hearing from Hunter that he would be joining the Warriors, Jeannot wondered where his career was going to take him – if anywhere.
“I’m kind of thinking well, maybe junior hockey is not the route for me,” Jeannot admitted.
If there is a constant theme to Jeannot’s sometimes curvy path to impact NHLer it is that elusive intangible known as character.
Maybe you can learn it from those around you; coaches, veteran players, billets and the like. But more often than not character is part of a person’s DNA.
Jayden Halbgewachs can speak to this. He and Jeannot played against each other in minor hockey in Saskatchewan but became close friends playing and living in Moose Jaw.
Every summer until last summer Jeannot and Halbgewachs worked out in the gym together and on ice, sometimes with well-known Saskatchewan skating coach Liane Davis.
“He’s the hardest-working person I know,” Halbgewachs said in a recent conversation from Moscow where he is playing in the Kontinental Hockey League.
On the ice it didn’t matter what needed attention, his skating stride, shooting drills, tip drills, Jeannot was up for it.
“He wanted to get better at everything,” Halbgewachs said.
Not only did the two push each other to become better hockey players their bond has created something longer-lasting.
The two are part of a group of players who met in Moose Jaw who are in regular contact and, until last summer, managed to get together every summer for a trip whether it was to Mexico, Kelowna or Scottsdale. Jeannot is a key part of these memorable events.
“He’s one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet,” Halbgewachs said. “He always makes time for his friends and family.”
The year after Jeannot was eligible for the NHL draft – and was not selected – Jeannot scored 40 goals and added 40 assists.
“That was kind of just how it was for me,” Jeannot said. “Living away from home you have to I guess grow up a little bit quicker and look after yourself a little bit quicker than maybe other people that get to stay at home a little bit longer. I wouldn’t change it for the world. I had a great experience in junior hockey and feel like it developed me into the player I am today. And that definitely helped me out with that leadership role and just kind of got me ready.”
Disappointed not to be drafted? Maybe. But Jeannot knew that undrafted players do still find their way into the NHL.
“Obviously being in your last year, you’re not drafted, you’re not signed by any NHL team, and yeah you think about what might I do next year,” Jeannot admitted. “You have plans and stuff but the goal was always try to make live your dream and play in the NHL so I was fortunate to sign with Nashville out of that year.”
Jeannot’s parents are both educators as is Jeannot’s older brother. Jeannot, the younger of two boys, did take online courses periodically and in the back of his mind there remain thoughts of continuing his education even though his focus remains solely on remaining an NHL player.
“You have thoughts about what’s going to happen, but like I said your mindset and you’re goal and what you’re working towards every day is always just to live that dream and make it there. And now we’re here so I’m just trying to make every moment count and make it last as long as I can,” Jeannot said.
Jeannot wasn’t drafted and wasn’t offered a contract after trips to rookie camps in Minnesota and Washington. Still, his junior coach never wavered in his belief the 6-foot-2, 220-lb winger had all the tools needed to make his way in the best hockey league in the world.
“There were no limits to how much he was going to improve,” Hunter said. “I saw it every day, how hard he worked. Every NHL team needs a player like that.”
In fact the Warriors and Jeannot’s AAA team in Saskatchewan both named internal fitness awards after Jeannot.
As it turns out it was the Nashville Predators who ultimately proved Hunter’s theory correct.
Jeannot got his NHL opportunity with Nashville in 2020-21 and made an immediate impact.
“I remember him just absolutely bulldozing a couple of guys,” long-time NHL netminder and analyst Chris Mason said.
“You’re like, oh my God, right away you’re thinking this guy is an absolute tank,” Mason added.
But beyond the bone thumping hits and the occasional fight it soon became apparent there was more than met the eye with Jeannot.
“The longer he stayed up the more you realize, hey, this kid can play hockey,” Mason said.
The long-time broadcaster recalled talking to American Hockey League coach Karl Taylor about Jeannot and asking what the forward had done to be able to make what might have been to outsiders an unexpected jump to the big league.
Taylor told Mason it came down to Jeannot’s willingness to want to get better every day.
“Everything Karl told him to do he did. He was that kind of guy,” Mason said.
When Jeannot was at his best with the Predators, playing often with Yakov Trenin and Colton Sissons, the trio created what Hunter believed was the best fourth line in the league.
“Every time they were on the ice they just had this energy and this impact was just something special. Tanner Jeannot had a lot to do with that,” Mason said.
Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
In Jeannot’s first full season with the Preds, 2021-22, he blossomed, scoring 24 times and collecting 41 points.
Think Tom Wilson. Think Wayne Simmonds in his prime. Jeannot had arrived and in a big way.
“That was a crazy year,” Jeannot said. “Obviously, I had a lot of success that year and everything was going really well hockey wise. And I got engaged that year. And we found out we were going to have our first kid that year. Everything seemed to be going right that year and it was just it was one of those highs that you try not to get too high and you try not to get too low but it was definitely really fun time I’ll remember that year for a long time.”
The next season a powerful Tampa Bay Lightning squad opened the vault to acquire Jeannot sending a first, a second, a third, a fourth and a fifth round draft pick plus prospect Cal Foote to Nashville for Jeannot.
Funny how this all works out, no?
If Jeannot fits seamlessly with Tampa we’re not sitting in the Kings’ locker room talking about how much Keely is loving living in Southern California.
The long and the short of it is that it didn’t work out as planned for either Tampa or Jeannot and he was, frankly, thrilled to learn he was headed to the Kings.
“As soon as I heard I was coming to LA, I kind of felt that sense of relief, not relief, but excitement I guess,” Jeannot said. “I’m looking at it just as a fresh start and a new opportunity. I had the success in Nashville and then I went to Tampa and it was just a little different. I didn’t fit in quite as well there and just I didn’t have the success that I was hoping to have.”
Rather than letting such a disappointment grind at him Jeannot is determined to learn from that experience and become a better person and player for it just as he has when faced with crossroads at various points in his career.
“You just take that and you grow and you use it to get better every day,” Jeannot said. “That’s still my mind set. Even now. Even though it’s the NHL it’s the same mindset I had coming up trying to get here it’s just do something to get better every single day. Don’t take it for granted and just keep working. Now I’m super excited to be here.
It’s a fresh opportunity, it’s a new start, get to fit in with a new group of guys which is a huge part of it and do everything I can to help this team.”
Both Hunter and Mason believe the fit with the Kings is a good one.
“I think the Kings will be the perfect spot for him in terms of the way he plays,” Mason said.
“What a pick-up,” Hunter added.
It shouldn’t matter who Jeannot plays with in the balanced, skilled Kings lineup, he should thrive, Hunter predicted.
“Tanner knows the game,” Hunter said.
“It’s called a hockey team,” Hunter added. It’s not a two-line game.
Certainly Kings head coach Jim Hiller and the rest of the Kings coaching staff is looking forward to helping Jeannot get back to his very specific style of play.
“You can see he loves hockey. You can see he loves his teammates,” said Hiller.
The role he plays is not an easy one, Hiller added.
“It’s a team role,” the coach said. “You always respect those guys who do that. He has a presence on the ice that is bigger than I thought it was. He looks to be a bigger player on the ice than he seems off the ice and that’s rare.”
For the team the goals and points will be welcome when and if they come. But that’s not how Jeannot’s value will be measured in Los Angeles.
“I don’t know if he’s going to be a 24 goals scorer ever again but we have to get his game back where he feels like and knows that he’s an important part of the team’s success,” Hiller explained. “He has to play well and play his role each night for us to win. So that’s the measure. It’s not goals it’s just knowing when he shows up to the rink that he has to play at a certain level for us to win and I know that he wants to do that he’s a team guy.”
Photo by Danny Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
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