The Tampa Bay Lightning announced on Monday (June 2) that they have signed forward Yanni Gourde to a six-year contract extension with an average annual value of $2.33 million.
The 33-year-old Gourde was re-acquired by the Lightning as part of a three-team trade with the Detroit Red Wings and Seattle Kraken on March 5, 2025, that brought him and Oliver Bjorkstrand to Tampa.
While the Lightning get a player who was instrumental in the team’s two Stanley Cup championships, Gourde signs a contract that will likely see him finish his career in a Lightning sweater, and it will allow Gourde to stay in Tampa, a place he did not want to leave.
“I wanted to stay in Tampa for a long time,” Gourde said on a video call with reporters. “That was the biggest thing for me was getting some term and be able to stay and play in Tampa for the remaining years of my career. That was the biggest part. I’m so excited that we could make this happen.”
Gourde’s signing also provides the team with additional benefits that will help them make another run at the Stanley Cup next season.
Salary Cap Help
With the signing of Gourde, the Lightning have 20 of their 23 available spots filled for next season. With only $6 million available to sign players, Gourde’s cap hit of just over $2 million gives the Lightning some room to sign some significant free agents to bolster their roster. He had an AAV of $5,166,667 on his six-year contract, which expires this summer, resulting in some significant savings for the Lightning. While his production is not the same as his first tenure with the Lightning, he still can provide some meaningful production next season.
After recording six goals and 17 points in 36 games with the Kraken, Gourde skated in 21 contests with the Bolts, collecting 13 assists and 14 points with a plus-4 rating. Following his acquisition, Gourde ranked third among all Lightning skaters for assists, while his 50 hits were the second-most on the team. He appeared in all five of Tampa Bay’s playoff games, ranking second among all Bolts forwards for blocked shots (six) and sixth for hits (nine).
Re-acquiring Former Champions
Gourde is the second former Lightning Cup champion that the team has added to its roster, continuing to fill the roster with players from a winning culture. Last season, they had a similar transaction in the 2024 offseason to reacquire defenseman Ryan McDonagh, and, like Gourde, he was an important piece of the Lightning’s back-to-back championships. Gourde also believes that the Lightning’s window to get another Stanley Cup isn’t closed.
“We want to win – I think we’re right there,” Gourde said in Monday’s press conference. “I’m so excited for the future and what’s coming.”
Next season, Gourde will aim to provide defensive support to high-offense centers like Brayden Point, while also contributing to the scoresheet. He scored seven goals and 31 points in 57 games this season, including 14 points in 21 games after returning to Tampa. That scoring total put Gourde on pace for 45 points across the whole season, a mark that would fall closely in line with his typical scoring pace. He has routinely scored 40 points in his healthy seasons and even managed back-to-back 48-point seasons with the Kraken in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.
The Lightning also hope that Gourde can avoid injuries that hampered his production this season. He missed several weeks with a sports hernia and subsequent surgery. He also broke a finger in the Lightning’s first-round loss to the defending champion and current Cup finalist, the Florida Panthers.
The Lightning also have a core of Point, Jake Guentzel, Brandon Hagel, and Anthony Cirelli under contract through at least 2030. Nikita Kucherov still has two seasons left on his contract, while goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy has three years left. With the signing of Gourde, they are getting closer than ever to assembling a roster that has a chance to win one more Stanley Cup before their window closes.
