We had heard whispers that the NHL Trade Deadline might be quieter than expected for the Seattle Kraken. But that theory was emphatically debunked Wednesday when Elliotte Friedman and Pierre LeBrun reported that the Kraken were working on a deal to send veteran forwards Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
In return, the Kraken are reportedly receiving a bounty: the Lightning’s first-round draft picks in 2026 and 2027, Toronto’s second-round pick in the upcoming draft, and depth forward Michael Eyssimont, who is on an expiring contract. Lebrun has indicated that Detroit is involved in facilitating the deal, retaining 25 percent of Gourde’s contract, and that Seattle will retain half of his contract. The Kraken are also sending their 2026 fifth-round pick to Tampa Bay.
(Update: It is worth noting that the first-round picks are top-10 protected. If either ends up being a lottery pick, then the Lightning will have the option of sliding them back to 2028 and 2029).
Still, that is a massive return, especially considering Gourde has been playing exclusively on the fourth line and is set to become an unrestricted free agent after this season.
Getting three high draft picks was not the type of return we envisioned general manager Ron Francis to be seeking at this deadline, but the beauty of this deal is that those assets can now be used as currency to improve the roster—either in the coming days or during the offseason.
Gourde and Bjorkstrand will be missed
While this was a deal the Kraken couldn’t pass up, we will certainly miss Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand. The Maestro and the Pepperpot have both had some magical moments with the organization, from Bjorkstrand’s two-goal performance in Game 7 of Seattle’s lone playoff series win over the Colorado Avalanche to Gourde’s ever-present, mid-scrum smiles.
Assuming he doesn’t sign back in Seattle after the season (which remains a possibility), Gourde closes his Kraken tenure with 52 goals and 94 assists in 271 games over four seasons. He now returns to the only other NHL franchise he has played for as Tampa Bay gears up for a playoff run. Before leaving via the 2021 Expansion Draft, Gourde recorded 80 goals and 107 assists in 310 games with the Lightning, winning two Stanley Cups along the way.
Bjorkstrand, acquired in a trade with Columbus during the 2022 offseason for just a third- and fourth-round pick, tallied 56 goals and 85 assists in 224 games with Seattle. He has one year remaining on his contract, which will pay him $5.4 million next season.
Michael Eyssimont incoming
We will wait to hear from Francis later this week on the reasoning behind acquiring Eyssimont, but our guess is that it was a “warm body” move to help make the dollars work for Tampa Bay. It reminds us of how Daniel Sprong was thrown into the deal with the Capitals at the 2021-22 deadline, when Marcus Johansson was traded away. Sprong arrived with few expectations but ended up earning a role.
Like Gourde, Eyssimont is a depth forward on an expiring contract. He can help fill the void left in Seattle’s roster by playing fourth-line center down the stretch if needed.
The 6-foot-0, 191-pound forward has 10 points (5-5—10) in 57 games for the Lightning this season. He has played limited minutes, averaging just 10:41 per game, but that’s on a stacked Tampa Bay roster.
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
Hats off to Chuck Holmes for recognizing Francis as a “top GM” early. I had my doubts, but Chuck was out in front on this one. I’m eatin’ some crow here.
Kudos Chuck!
Yes, that is right, I called this one quite awhile ago. To all those who argued so strongly against my call, humility is always the best option.
Have to give Francis some credit here for stepping outside his comfort zone and taking a big swing.
The good or bad news is that these are later in the round picks, so I guess we will have to settle for something in the 25-32 range. Not sure if there are any top-6 players available there. Hopefully Tanev gets us some picks this season and higher in the rounds.
What this does do, besides making the team younger and freeing up cap space, is kick the competitiveness window a few more years down the road. Looking at 2026-27 maybe.
I almost forgot to mention that Frank Seravalli sends his regards and says to contact him when you learn something about this sport.
😉
Wow, that really is a haul. I was hoping they’d get prospects instead of picks, but you’re right that theoretically, those picks could be traded for players. The Kraken would need to actually be semi-competitive to take that leap, which is now looking like it’s 2-3 years away at least.
The picks could be traded for players/prospects as well, so might not be 2-3 years out. Also frees up 10.5 million in cap space, so that can be used in the offseason to get better as well.
Yanni as an expiring UFA was already freed up… the the Bjorky dollars are new money.
Sentimentally, I hate to see Bjorky and Gourde go. But from a hockey standpoint, this is a great trade for the Kraken, and honestly a pretty solid deal for the Lightning as well. Ron Francis has done a good job drafting for the Kraken, so I’ll be curious to see what he does with those draft picks.
Thank you for everything, Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand! We’ll always have the memories: Gourde’s OT game winner against Dallas, and Bjorky’s brace to lift the Kraken over Colorado in Game 7.
1st round picks have top 10 protection for ’26 and ’27. If either (or both) slides, SEA gets an additional 3rd round pick in the year the pick slides to. Doubt Tampa will be that bad in the next two years for it to come into play, but good to have the ability to get another pick should either of the 1sts slide.
Great deal on paper. A little bittersweet because I hoped we could find a way to keep Yanni but I’m happy to see him headed back to Tampa. He’ll also be available in the offseason if there is mutual interest in a reunion. I think some will rightfully express concern that the 25-26 Kraken just got worse, but Darren is right that the picks can easily be shipped in the offseason. I also like that we didn’t retain anything on Bjorkstrand in 25-26.
We’ll need to find scoring in the offseason and I don’t think that will come cheap. This trade didn’t get us any closer to returning to the playoffs, so it will ultimately be judged by what RF does with those picks.
I think this is RF’s (rightful) admission that next year’s team isn’t contending either, so may as well trade among the next crop of UFAs. This also hopefully means that this team will finally start to get younger, which it desperately needs to do.
If the picks slide to ’28 and/or ’29, are they still top 10 protected in ’28/’29?
no. Only those two drafts but if they both slide there is a 3rd round draft pick that the Kraken get.
Too bad Ronnie can’t make deals. 🙂
With you being as cynical as always. I will ignore your shot and say this is unusual for Francis, so other forces are likely involved. But he did OK, although the pay off is years down the road. Let’s see what he does with Tanev and maybe Oleksiak.
As I pointed out to your fellow cynic Daryl W below, Francis needs to go, regardless of his TDL moves. It is time, for reasons I explained. The culture of mediocrity has to end. Given they just called up Myers and Melanson to fill in, there is not much hope for next season without some kind of deep overhaul, starting in the front office. If you can articulate how this team will be in any measure successful next season with Francis at the helm, knowing that no top UFAs will be stopping by, I’d love to hear it.
It seems to me that Seattle G was praising Francis’ moves here, whereas you seem to think it wasn’t Francis, but the mysterious “Other Forces” that got this deal done.
I’m not sure that makes Seattle G the cynical one.
This deal exceeded my expectations and is a big step in the right direction for the franchise.
I didn’t expect them to be able to get a 1st round pick this year, but they managed to get 2 plus a 2nd! If this is a true reflection of prices in the market at the deadline this year rather than the annual Tampa overpay in draft picks, then Francis should be prepared to send out some more veterans for high picks.
I think getting draft picks from a top team results in a 25th to 30th pick or within that range which does not result in a good player but only adds to a pukle of young players with the hopes that 1 of 5 players may make the roster in a few years. I was hoping for younger experienced talent in return. Oh well let us see what free agency does to make this team competitive next year.
I’ll fill in for the haters here…
A top GM like they have in Vegas would put on a “masterclass” and turn these picks into a trade for Celebrini or Bedard… but terrible Ron Francis will probably just give them away for “future considerations”… or attach one to Jared McCann in exchange for a bag of pucks.
What a waste… giving away Gourde and Bjorkstrand! Fire Ron Francis!
He could package some and get Mikko Rantanen, but then several posters in here will be angry because Mikko is already a very ripe 28, and that will drive up our average age from 26.95. He also won’t be cheap.
I feel like next season and the season after Seattle will have two firsts, plenty of cap space, and could be in a good position to add where they need to. I don’t know that adding right now – unless it was something like Nemec or Byram – is such a great idea.
To be fair the criticism on RF is that he hasn’t shown that he can build a winning team. He did a good job with the hurricanes adding parts but couldn’t build out a good team, we are seeing the same results here. I’m not sure how much patience ownership will have. I have a feeling that these picks are not going to be used by Seattle, as ownership clearly wants results yesterday. The real test for RF will be what he does with the capital gains. I’m thinking a second comes back for Tanev, the Rig is probably in play as well. More assists are arriving shortly. He’s going to have to buy out a mistake or two this summer and then show us a more importantly ownership that he knows how to take the team to the next level.
I guess the false modesty above from Daryl W is just that. Francis did OK here and I gave him credit. However, my call still is, and I am sure you will make about 10 more posts about it because you seem to have nothing much else to do except try to prove you know something about hockey, that Francis should be fired before the draft. This is for two reasons:
1. Francis has not built a franchise with a winning culture. People can debate all day about individual moves he did or did not make but the key point overall is that he has not built a winning culture and that is the mark of a top GM.
2. No executive or coach in the league last too long in their position, because they wear out their welcome and run out of ideas. It is time for someone with fresh ideas to come in and keep the good things Francis has done and discard the bad things and take it all up a level. Look around the league just this season and look what the change in GMs has done for several teams who are now knocking on the playoff door who were dismal a year ago. That is what the Kraken need to do as well. If they love Francis, let him be team president or something but get a new guy into the GM role to shape the team for mid-term or even short-term success.
By NHL standards, 95% of them aren’t very good aged 18-23, no matter what round they are drafted in. 1st round certainly improves the odds.
The top four scorers this season on Tampa (all of which are over 60 points right now) are the following (with draft position):
Kucherov 2nd (59th)
Hagel 6th (159th)
Point 3rd (79th)
Guentzel 3rd (77th)
Teams can absolutely get good players outside the top 10. You have to have good scouting and drafting but acting like a late 1st is a nothing pick is silly.
I know that all the armchair GMs love the value that this trade brings in, and, wow, does it bring in a lot. It even makes sense on the roster, since Eberle needed a spot in the top-nine to move into. I just hate to lose Gourde’s fire and Ollie’s offensive production. Trading players for picks always sucks in the here and now. At least Yanni gets to go back to the place where he has had the most success, and I am sure that Ollie will enjoy it there as well. And, hey, we will have some folks to cheer for in the playoffs.
Solid move by GMRF.
To suggest this pushes the competitive window out 2-3 years seems like an exaggeration. First of all the Kraken aren’t competitive right now. We’re currently 6th in the Pacific Division and 13th in the Western Conference right now, so the worst thing would have been to stand pat. Gourde will be 34 next year, we would have moved on from him sooner rather than later. Bjorkstrand will be missed. In the immediate term, the next move should be to bring up Jani Nyman NOW and start his NHL learning curve.
These trades provides picks and cap space, which translates into flexibility. Last time GMRF had draft picks to play with he acquired Bjorkstrand for a 3rd and 4th round pick which ended up being a great trade. Now he’ll have two additional 1st round picks and the chance to acquire a good established player and/or a great prospect. His trade for Kaapo Kakko was inspired; so in spite of the skepticism regarding GMRF he’s done this before. Add to that the signing one quality FA this offseason and the “competitive window” may be a lot closer than we think.
With two days left I’m gonna wait and see where things stand at the end of Friday. I think Tanev will still move and maybe there’s a chance on Oleksiak as well… then I’ll think about what next season could look like.
Even though they lost last night, that team looked a lot closer than they’ve looked most of the season.
I don’t get this fascination with UFAs at this stage. The Kraken are very, very far from contending. At best they are participants in the chase for a Wild Card spot and will be for the next few seasons. That is not contending. UFAs should be signed once the new core is in place and to put the last piece(s) in place for a real contender IF they are needed at all.
This team needs to learn from the Stephenson mistake. In a year or two, possibly next season, he’ll be a $6.2m 3rd line center signed until 2030-2031, which is ridiculous cap management. And people want to add more UFAs to that? Those UFAs will only block the drafted kids from real TOI, real experience, block them on the PP, block them in the top 6 etc. That’s how you stunt growth in the kids. Maybe a UFA to shore up the D makes some sense since the d prospect pool is thin, but even that will be poor use of cap money. Look at Tampa and Florida, how many UFA contracts do they have on their roster?
Roll with reality, accept that this is a period of growth for the team and the franchise towards an actual contender. Don’t put short term comfort in the path of long-term success, that will only bite the team in the rear end and create future headaches.
There’s been a lot of discussion about how successful teams build their rosters and it’s fair to say that building exclusively through the draft has serious pitfalls. Both approaches are needed and signing 1-2 high value UFAs (or trading for them) when you have the capital is a good strategy, in fact there are teams who exclusively do this.
And I don’t know if Florida is the comp you’re going for here – they gave up a lot for Tkachuk when he was a RFA, and prior to that did the same thing for Bennett and Reinhart. They weren’t home grown talent.
I’m not against smart trades; that’s not the argument. With all the draft picks the Kraken has they will trade prospects and young players at some point, that’s the nature of the situation. What I argued against is signing big names like Marner and Rantanen that I’ve seen thrown around, just because they are Big Names, without any thought how it impacts the team and org just a little further down the road.
If Eyssimont, who just arrived in the Tampa trade and is UFA this summer, impresses and fits in I have no problem if they sign him to a contract, because that will be something reasonable like 3x 1m i.e. nothing earth shattering. Again, it’s not the principle of UFA I’m arguing against. What I am pointing at is the importance of overall vision, timing and patience. Tampa and Florida did NOT ruin their cap situation by tying themselves up in hopeless UFA knots, that’s what made it possible for them to pursue good trades, like Reinhart and Tkachuk in Florida’s case.
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Oh I definitely agree regarding those particular UFAs – both have benefited greatly from playing alongside superstars and while the sample size is low Rantanen hasn’t been as good in Carolina as he was in Colorado.
You talk about trades as “good trades” only because you have the advantage of a rear view mirror.
There’s no point in making a habit of being terrible year after year because you think it’s good to have $15-$20m in cap room. At some point, you need to develop the habits to be consistently good. This might be where you miss the point on signing a player like Stephenson. It’s not because he’s individually awesome.
The noteworthy comment was regarding Eyssimont, whom no one has discussed much, but not for the reasons you say. He’s the dark horse in this trade. One of the best coaches in the NHL (John Cooper) trusted him enough to play him 81 games last season and 57 games this season.
The Kraken have a limited amount of cash to spend on free agents. What this team lacks more than anything is high end goal scorers. Those are expensive, that is the main reason commiting so much of the teams available cap to him was a big mistake.
Did he make a difference this year? Sure, maybe he netted the team worse draft picks by being better than a cheaper option.
The real difference he makes is they have less cash available to bring in elite offensive players the next couple years. It’s clear they need several of them and won’t have the cap to get that done. Partly thanks to the crappy Stephenson signing.
Brian this is just objectively false though – with offloading Gourde and Bjorkstrand they will have 11 m in cap space, throw in a Grubi buyout and that goes to 15 m. The cap jumps by 9 m next year which brings their cap space to 24 m. Depending on what happens to Tanev that brings it to 27.5 m. And that’s just with the predictable moves, if they move Oleksiak or Burky or anyone else that brings it even higher.
That’s plenty of cap to bring in elite offensive talent. I know it’s not the popular narrative, but Stephenson’s cap hit just isn’t impacting their ability to do that to any degree proportional to the amount it is complained about on the internet.
When Stephenson is the same age Yanni was this season, his contract will be a smaller percentage of the cap. Is Yanni’s cap hit what was killing this team this season?
Also, with the ELCs in place and on the way and now Bjorkstrand out and Oleksiak maybe next due to the emergence of Evans… there is no cap crunch on the horizon.
Folks really need to stop wringing their hands over the Stephenson contract.
Agreed. As has been discussed, Stephenson has the thankless but important task “protecting” Shane Wright’s development in that he’s taking a lot of unfavorable matchups and D zone faceoffs. Shane Wright be a complete player in next 1-2 years which dovetails nicely with a CS buyout. Buying him out prior to the 27/28 season would create $4.3mm in cap space through the 30/31 season. The ~ $2mm hit doesn’t begin until the 31/32 season and lasts for 5 seasons in total. Not too worried about it….
ELCs only help your cap situation if there’s space for them on the NHL roster. Which isn’t going to happen if they fill out the roster by giving term (and NMCs!) to older players.
They’re tied up down the middle and on the top two pairs… but luckily all of their emerging prospects play the wing… where they have plenty of openings for those ELCs.
It’s almost like they have a plan to promote… kinda like not resigning Soucy to make room for Evans.