Tampa Bay Lightning Acquire Oliver Bjorkstrand, Yanni Gourde
The Tampa Bay Lightning announced a whopping trade a few days before the deadline. The full trade details are as follows:
- Tampa Bay acquires F Yanni Gourde (50% retained by Seattle, 25% retained by Detroit), F Oliver Bjorkstrand, the signing rights to D Kyle Aucoin, and Seattle’s 2025 fifth-round pick
- Seattle acquires F Michael Eyssimont, Tampa Bay’s 2026 first-round pick, Tampa Bay’s 2027 first-round pick, and Toronto’s 2025 second-round pick
- Detroit acquires a conditional 2025 fourth-round pick (the highest selection between Tampa Bay or Edmonton’s 2025 fourth-round pick)
As a final note on the two first-round picks headed to Seattle, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that both are top-10 protected. If either of the picks are in the top-10, they slide back one year, theoretically meaning they could slide back to the 2028 or 2029 NHL Draft. If that happens to either draft selection, the Lightning will send a third-round pick to the Kraken for any year that it happens.
Tampa opened up some roster flexibility today after waiving forwards Cam Atkinson and Logan Brown on Tuesday, but the moves will only open $900K in cap space. We now know that the Lightning brought in the Detroit Red Wings as a third party for the deal, as they’ll help bring Gourde’s cap hit down to $1.29MM after retention.
Given the package returning to Seattle, this deal will inevitably have a downstream effect on the market. Although Bjorkstrand himself isn’t a rental, it’s a massive price to pay for two players projected to play in the Lightning’s middle-six. It’s a heavy price, but Tampa Bay is gambling that Gourde and Bjorkstrand will be more valuable than two draft picks later in the first round.
Still, aside from the price, it’s not easy to hypothesize better additions for the Lightning. Gourde returns to the organization where he won two Stanley Cup rings in 2020 and 2021 after a four-year hiatus in Washington state.
At the time of writing, Tampa Bay is 10th in the NHL with an 81.05% penalty kill and 18th with a team faceoff percentage of 50.32%. Furthermore, aside from the topical statistics, they are 16th in the NHL with a 50.5% CorsiFor% at even strength. Gourde is expected to help in all three areas. 
He’ll carry a 50.8% faceoff rate and a 52.2% CorsiFor% at even strength into his first game back with the Lightning. The move will also allow Tampa Bay to move Nick Paul to the second line and give Gourde third-line minutes next to a combination of different wingers. Given the firepower at the top of Tampa Bay’s forward core, Gourde won’t be counted upon as much for offense, which could even help improve his play on the defensive side of the puck.
The deal’s benefits don’t end there for Tampa. If the Lightning believe Paul is better suited on the third line, Bjorkstrand can immediately step into the second line. Dating back to his tenure with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Bjorkstand can generally be relied upon for 20 goals and 30 to 40 assists a year. Bjorkstrand is only one year removed from the best offensive production of his career, scoring 20 goals and 59 points for the Kraken in 82 contests.
Similarly to Gourde, Bjorkstrand is a solid possession player, evidenced by his career CorsiFor% of 52.0% at even strength. Given that Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli have scored 30 and 20 goals already this season, respectively, Bjorkstrand will be an effective playmaker to put alongside them.
The only roster player headed to Seattle is Eyssimont. He’s spent the last three years as a bottom-six forward for the Lightning and is only one year removed from a career campaign himself. Eyssimont scored 11 goals and 25 points in 81 games for Tampa Bay last season, averaging 11:51 of ice time per game. Unfortunately, he hasn’t lived up to those standards this year, scoring five goals and 10 points in 51 contests, averaging 10:41 of ice time per game.
Meanwhile, the Kraken are on the horizon of complementing an already deep prospect pool. Seattle will have nine picks in the top 64 of the next three NHL Drafts alone. Should the Lightning continue winning, those first-round picks won’t fall till later. Still, it’s always better to have two picks in the first round rather than one.
The impact of this deal on the trade market cannot be overstated. Many have perceived that this year’s deadline has become a seller’s market, and this trade solidifies that notion. Clear-cut buyers such as the Dallas Stars, Edmonton Oilers, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Winnipeg Jets may have more difficulty improving their roster after this trade. Additionally, teams on the playoff bubble may have an easier time buying and selling before Friday’s deadline.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports images.
Friedman was the first to report that Seattle was acquiring two first-round picks in the deal.
TSN’s Pierre LeBrun was the first to report a majority of the trade details.
LeBrun was the first to report salary retention details and Detroit’s involvement.
PHR’s Brennan McClain contributed to this article.
Seattle Kraken Activate Yanni Gourde, Reassign Ben Meyers
The Seattle Kraken have a healthy roster for the first time since the beginning of the season. Ahead of tonight’s contest against the Minnesota Wild, the Kraken announced they’ve activated Yanni Gourde from the long-term injured reserve. In a corresponding roster move, Seattle reassigned Ben Meyers to their AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
After undergoing surgery to repair a hernia on the last day of January, Gourde’s projected recovery timeline was approximately five to seven weeks. On the shorter end of the spectrum, it was believed Gourde would return on March 7th at the earliest possible time, but he’ll beat that projection by a few days.
Gourde has been an oft-mentioned trade candidate throughout deadline season, even through his surgery recovery. He’s on the last season of a six-year, $31MM contract and may come a lot cheaper should the Kraken retain 50% of his remaining salary in a hypothetical trade. Given that anything can change during this time of the NHL calendar, it’s also unsurprising that TSN’s Pierre LeBrun mentioned a few days ago that Seattle hasn’t shut the door on an extension for Gourde.
Unfortunately, Gourde will return to one of the worst offensive seasons of his career. The two-time Stanley Cup champion has six goals and 16 points in 35 games with the Kraken this year. The one-month absence won’t help him much in expanding those totals, but he still has plenty of value on the defensive side of the puck.
Since becoming a full-time player for the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2017-18 campaign, Gourde has maintained a 48.9% success rate in the faceott dot. He’s mildly beating that performance this year with a 49.9% rate. Additionally, Gourde is again averaging approximately one blocked shot and two hits per game. His metrics are solid, too, with a 51.4% CorsiFor% at even strength and an impressive 97.9% on-ice save percentage at even strength. If any contending team is looking for a consistent bottom-six center — Gourde should be their target.
Meanwhile, Meyers returns to Coachella Valley after a brief call-up. He’s gone scoreless over seven games with the Kraken this season, averaging 8:10 of ice time per game. He’s been understandably better at the AHL level, scoring 19 goals and 40 points in 45 games for the Firebirds.
Kraken Willing To Retain Half Of Brandon Tanev's Salary
- According to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, the Seattle Kraken have indicated they’re willing to retain 50% of Brandon Tanev‘s $3.5MM cap hit. If Tanev’s market wasn’t already robust, the news should open up his market to most, if not all, of the contending teams this season. The 10-year veteran would instantly improve any team’s bottom six and should command a second-round pick in a strong seller’s market.
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Kraken Recall Philipp Grubauer, Assign Niklas Kokko To AHL
Late in January, the Kraken decided to place Philipp Grubauer on waivers to allow him to get some extended time with AHL Coachella Valley to try to get him back on track. It appears they’re content with how he performed as the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled the veteran from the Firebirds. In a corresponding move, Niklas Kokko was assigned to Coachella Valley.
Grubauer struggled in his first three seasons with Seattle, failing to record a save percentage of .900. But this year, things went much worse. Prior to his demotion, the 33-year-old put up a 3.83 GAA and a .866 SV% in 21 outings, numbers that are dead last among netminders with at least 20 appearances. That’s hardly the type of performance they’re expecting from someone carrying a cap charge of $5.9MM through the 2026-27 season.
With the Firebirds, Grubauer was better but his numbers were still relatively pedestrian for a long-time NHL veteran. In seven appearances with them, he posted a 2.87 GAA with a .893 SV%. Now that he’s back with Seattle, his likely goal over the next seven weeks will be to try to play well enough to not be considered for a contract buyout this summer.
As for Kokko, he made his first career NHL appearance on Tuesday, making four saves on six shots in half a game against St. Louis. The 20-year-old is in the first season of his entry-level deal and has fared well in the minors, putting up a 2.44 GAA and a .909 SV% in 21 games with the Firebirds. With Coachella Valley in a three-way battle for the top spot in the Pacific Division, Kokko will now get into some meaningful action down the stretch.
Central Notes: Jets, Maroon, Bichsel, Carcone
The Winnipeg Jets are entering the Trade Deadline with little bargaining pieces but plenty of cap space. That’s the set up for some low-cost lineup tinkering, with left-defense the most glaring issue on the roster. That hole could draw the Jets towards open market options like Boston’s Brandon Carlo or Seattle’s Jamie Oleksiak, per Ken Wiebe and Mike McIntyre of The Winnipeg Free Press. Both players carry a cap hit below $5MM. Oleksiak’s deal expires at the end of next season, while Carlo has two years left and a modified no-trade clause.
The added security and movement protection could make Carlo a tough fish to catch. Oleksiak will likely be much more expendable for the right price. The 32-year-old defensive-defenseman has been a focal point of the Kraken blue-line over the last four seasons. He’s averaging 19 minutes of ice time through 60 games this year, while posting 13 points, 14 penalty minutes, and a minus-eight. That stat line is largely in-line with what Oleksiak has managed in three prior years in Seattle – routinely floating between 15 and 20 points and negative plus-minuses, all while serving from a carved out role on the second pair. Oleksiak is six-foot-seven, 250-pounds and patrols the defensive end with a long reach and heavy physical presence. Winnipeg has tried to net the same impact from players like Logan Stanley – one of the only NHLers as tall as Oleksiak – but to little avail. Stanley has just nine points, 72 penalty minutes, and a plus-10 in 47 games on Winnipeg’s bottom-pair. Any upgrade they make will be solely focused on improving that third-pair’s standing as the Jets plan for a very late season.
Other notes from the Midwest:
- The Chicago Blackhawks have kicked the door to the Trade Deadline wide open by swapping defender Seth Jones for goaltender Spencer Knight and a first-round pick. All signs point towards the Hawks continuing to sell as the deadline draws closer – with pieces like Ryan Donato, Alec Martinez, and Petr Mrazek all on the block. But of their aged veterans, winger Pat Maroon doesn’t seem likely to join in on the relocation. He told Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times that he’d prefer to stay with Chicago rather than experience yet another deadline trade. Maroon has been moved in February or March three different times in his career, including at last year’s deadline. He signed his first open market contract since 2020 this summer – choosing the Windy City as his landing spot. 54 games later, Maroon must clearly be enjoying the role of veteran leader and Stanley Cup expert in front of Chicago’s young core. He has 14 points, 71 penalty minutes, and a minus-11 on the year, while serving a minimal role in Chicago’s bottom-six. While opening up that spot would certainly open minutes for more top prospects, it’d be tough to see Chicago go against Maroon’s wishes for anything less than a golden offer.
- Top rookie defenseman Lian Bichsel is progressing in his return from an upper-body injury. He is doubtful for the Dallas Stars’ game against St. Louis on Sunday, but could return when they face New Jersey on Tuesday, per Dallas News’ Lia Assimakopoulos. Bichsel was injured on a high hit from New York Islanders grinder Casey Cizikas on February 23rd. He’s missed two games since. Bichsel has played the first 18 games of his NHL career this season. He has five points, 14 penalty minutes, and a plus-six in that span – and has looked the part of a projectable first-round pick. News of his return on Tuesday will also suggest that Bichsel will continue to hold a role on the NHL roster, though it will be shaky ground as Dallas looks to buy improvements at the deadline. In an aforementioned fun fact, Bichsel is one of the few other six-foot-seven defenders.
- The Utah Hockey Club were without depth forward Michael Carcone on Saturday evening. He was listed as a game-time decision due to a lower-body injury, per Belle Fraser of the Salt Lake Tribune. Carcone has filled a minimal lineup role in Utah, with 13 points, 29 penalty minutes, and a minus-seven in 41 games this year. Utah turned towards Kevin Stenlund to fill-in during the losing effort. Stenlund recorded one assist in 11 minutes of ice time. It was his 14th point of the year through 61 appearances. Jack McBain also saw a boost in Carcone’s absence, stepping onto the second-unit power-play. He did not manage any scoring in the fill-in role.
Kraken Could Try To Sign Yanni Gourde To Contract Extension
The Nashville Predators are reportedly listening to trade offers on veteran center Ryan O’Reilly (as per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic). The Predators aren’t in a hurry to move the 34-year-old as he still has two years left on his current contract at $4.5MM per season and continues to provide strong two-way play, despite his offensive production dipping this season. O’Reilly is just a year removed from posting 69 points in 82 games and has put up points at a reasonable rate this year with 14 goals and 22 assists in 56 games.
The Predators aren’t actively trying to trade the Clinton, Ontario native, but it does sound as though they are open to doing so if they receive a trade offer that is to their liking. They currently sit 16 points out of a playoff spot but have many veterans inked to long term deals and are unlikely to initiate a rebuild anytime soon.
In other morning notes:
- The Seattle Kraken have not closed the door on re-signing pending free agent center Yanni Gourde (as per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic). Gourde is out of the lineup at the moment recovering from successful sports hernia surgery and has not played since January 2nd. He is expected to return before the NHL Trade Deadline and could be moved if Seattle can’t sign him to an extension. The situation is not unlike that of Jordan Eberle last year, who lingered on trade boards up until he signed a two-year extension to remain in Seattle.
- The Montreal Canadiens are reportedly open to keeping forward Jake Evans and won’t just move him for the sake of trading him (as per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic). Montreal remains in the playoff hunt in the Eastern Conference, sitting just three points back of Detroit for the final Wild Card spot and has plenty of draft picks at their disposal. The Canadiens have reportedly communicated their willingness to hang onto the 28-year-old Evans, who is set to become a UFA on July 1st. LeBrun believes that Winnipeg, New Jersey, Minnesota, Toronto and Edmonton are among the teams that have inquired about Evans.
Seattle Kraken Reassign Mitchell Stephens
Due to a three-day break until their next regular season contest the Seattle Kraken have made a cap-related roster move. The Kraken announced they’ve reassigned forward Mitchell Stephens to their AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
This transaction would only be counted as a non-paper move if Seattle expected Yanni Gourde back by the weekend which isn’t the case. Despite AHL Coachella Valley having two games between now and the Kraken’s next game, there’s no expectation Stephens will suit up for them.
Since Stephens cleared waivers earlier this month, Seattle won’t have to send him through the wire for the modest cap-savings. The move was made during the 4 Nations Face-Off break so the Kraken still have a seven-game window with Stephens before he needs to clear waivers again for reassignment.
He’s been a fine if unimpressive bottom-six center for Seattle this year. Stephen is only 10 contests away from reaching his career-high of 38 games played which came in the 2019-20 season with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He’s scored one goal, and two assists, and has managed a 53.6% faceoff percentage averaging 9:14 of ice time this season, albeit with a -8 rating.
Those numbers don’t jump off the page as a legitimate bottom-six option for most teams in the NHL but the cap-strapped Kraken are positioned to rely on cheaper insurance options this season. Stephens could finish the final stretch of the regular season with Seattle should the team sell off multiple forward assets leading up to the trade deadline.
Kraken Recall Niklas Kokko
The Kraken have swapped backup netminders. They announced they’ve summoned rookie Niklas Kokko from AHL Coachella Valley, sending down Ales Stezka in a corresponding move after he made his NHL debut in yesterday’s loss to the Lightning. Seattle also returned defenseman Cale Fleury to Coachella.
It’s the first NHL recall for Kokko, who Seattle selected 58th overall in 2022. Now the organization’s top goaltending prospect, the 20-year-old is having a strong rookie season in the AHL – especially considering his age. The 6’4″ goalie has made 21 appearances for the Firebirds with a 2.44 GAA, .909 SV and a 15-4-1 record. He leads qualified rookie netminders in wins and GAA, although he’s one of two who’s yet to record a shutout.
He made the jump stateside last summer after spending the 2023-24 campaign on loan to Kärpät and Pelicans in Liiga in his native Finland. He finished the year with a .926 SV% in 13 games for the latter club and led them to the league’s final postseason round. Kokko didn’t crack The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler’s recent ranking of Seattle’s top 15 prospects, but it’s hard to ignore the numbers he’s put up over the last couple of seasons.
Stezka, 28, surrendered three goals on 22 shots against the Bolts for a .864 SV% in his debut. The 28-year-old Czechia native had been serving as Joey Daccord‘s backup ever since the Kraken waived and reassigned ex-starter Philipp Grubauer to Coachella Valley but only got into a game after Daccord made six consecutive starts on either side of the 4 Nations break. A free agent signing out of the Extraliga’s HC Vítkovice in 2023, he’s posted a .902 SV% and a 2.99 GAA in 25 AHL games this year with a 9-12-8 record. That’s down considerably from last year, where he logged a .914 SV% and a pair of shutouts in 27 games.
Kokko is waiver-exempt, while Stezka isn’t. Seattle won’t want Kokko to sit without playing as Daccord’s backup for long periods. Still, it does make sense to have him come up occasionally for spot duty to delay the exception of Stezka’s temporary waiver exemption.
Maintaining waiver-exempt status is also the chief reason for Fleury’s demotion. He’s been sent between leagues endlessly this season whenever the Kraken need injury insurance on defense, but he hasn’t spent enough time on the roster to warrant clearing waivers again after initially passing through them during the preseason. The 26-year-old has squeaked into Seattle’s lineup seven times this year, recording an assist with a plus-two rating while averaging 12:20 per game with a 48.4 CF% at even strength. He’s tied for the team lead in the minors with a +10 rating and has 6-12–18 in 32 appearances.
Seattle Kraken Activate Jordan Eberle From LTIR
Saturday: As expected, the Kraken announced that Eberle will indeed return to Seattle’s lineup today against Florida.
Monday: According to the AHL transactions page, the Seattle Kraken have officially recalled forward Jordan Eberle from his conditioning loan with the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds. Seattle still needs to activate Eberle from the team’s long-term injured reserve but all signs indicate he’ll return for the Kraken’s first game after the 4 Nations Face-Off break this Saturday.
It’ll be Eberle’s first game in almost 100 days should he suit up against the Florida Panthers this weekend. Seattle’s second captain in franchise history underwent surgery to repair a pelvic injury suffered in the team’s November 14th matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The injury was certainly a buzzkill for Eberle after getting off to a quick start to the 2024-25 campaign. The Regina, Saskatchewan native scored six goals and 11 points through his first 17 games this season before succumbing to the pelvic injury. That 0.65 point-per-game average would have put Eberle around the 53-point total if he continued that pace over all the Kraken’s games this year.
That would have made for his second-best offensive output as a member of the Kraken. Eberle finished his first year with the club with 21 goals and 44 points in 79 games only to explode for 63 points a year later. The former sniper for the Edmonton Oilers and New York Islanders dropped back to 44 points last season setting him up for a potential rebound year in 2024-25.
Hindsight being 20/20, Eberle has lost that opportunity. He’ll max out at 42 games played this season if he plays in Seattle’s remaining 25 contests setting a new career-low. Still, Eberle will have one year and $4.75MM left on his contract after this season meaning he’ll have one more chance at a quality payday heading into his age 36 campaign.
Seattle Kraken Move Yanni Gourde To LTIR, Recall Cale Fleury
The Seattle Kraken needed to make a cap-saving roster move assuming they activate forward Jordan Eberle from the LTIR for their game tomorrow night against the Florida Panthers. Seattle made the transaction today, announcing they’ve moved forward Yanni Gourde to the LTIR and recalled defenseman Cale Fleury from their AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
Gourde is still recovering from a sports hernia injury that could keep him out past the trade deadline. The popular trade target is in the last season of a six-year, $31MM contract originally signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2018.
Given his status as a pending unrestricted free agent, the Kraken’s ability to retain up to 50% of his salary, and Gourde’s solid work as a defensively minded center, it was almost a given that he would be moved at the deadline. Unfortunately, because he hasn’t seen game action since January 2nd and the likelihood of his recovery extending past the deadline, Seattle may be lucky to recoup even a mid-round pick for Gourde’s services.
Still, it wouldn’t be unheard of for a contending team to acquire an injured player. The Minnesota Wild traded a 2023 fifth-round pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets for then-injured forward Gustav Nyquist in 2023. Nyquist eventually joined the Wild with three games remaining in the regular season scoring one goal and five points. His point production carried into the playoffs tallying five assists in six games.
Only time will tell if Seattle pulls the trigger on a Gourde trade. A month into the 2024-25 season, the Kraken began receiving serious interest in Gourde, but general manager Ron Francis rebuffed those inquiries—a decision that has not aged well.
Fleury returns to the Pacific Northwest for the first time in two weeks. He’s been an oft-taxied defenseman for the Kraken this season who’ve surprisingly only had to waive him once because of serious salary cap-finagling. He’s tallied one assist in seven games averaging 12:20 of ice time throughout his fourth season with the organization.