TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – In recent years, the Tampa Bay Lightning have brought in one or two final pieces before the NHL trade deadline to round out the rosters that went on to win two Stanley Cups and make three finals appearances in the last three years.

Blake Coleman, Barclay Goodrow, Brandon Hagel, and Nick Paul were some key mid-season additions since 2020, and now the Bolts have added Tanner Jeannot to the list of players they hope will help them hoist another Stanley Cup. 

“We have a really good team with a lot of good players, experienced coaches,” Lightning General Manager Julien BriseBois said. “We have all the ingredients to go on a long run. Hopefully, we get some luck along the way and we’re fortunate enough to go on another long run.”

“We’ve said all along, our philosophy’s been, ‘If you have an opportunity to make your team better, then make the team better.'” Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper said. “We’ve never been a team to make moves just to make moves. This was seen as an opportunity for us to improve and Julien did that.”

But is Jeannot the Bolts’ last acquisition before Friday’s 3 p.m. ET deadline? 

“Never say never,” BriseBois said. “The focus has been on this trade the last little while. Now we’re able to bring that to the finish line. We’re going to reconvene today (Monday) and look at whether there are other opportunities out there worth exploring, and if so we’ll explore them. If something comes to materialize, we’ll do this again and I’ll tell you all about it.” 

BriseBois’ teams have made the playoffs each of his previous four seasons as the Bolts’ general manager. With his sights set on going five for five in making the postseason, he seems to have found a way to strike that risk/reward balance that sets this franchise up for success. 

“You have to take bigger and bigger risks but I think that’s necessary to accomplishing great feats. And we have right now, the privilege of having all of these good players and I think it’s my responsibility to do everything I can to help them achieve as much as possible during this era.” 

“It’s kind of a player’s dream to have a GM like Julien who goes out there and gives everything he has to believe in our team and improve our team and give us a chance to do what we’ve done the last three years and go on a deep run,” Lightning forward Steven Stamkos said.

“It’s probably on both sides – the players feel fortunate that we have a management group that believes in us and vice versa. We have to go out there and perform to put ourselves in a position so the management can do that. So it’s been a heck of a ride with some of the guys that we’ve added over the years and for the most part, they’re still part of this team so it’s great.”