It’s been a handful of games since Yanni Gourde has resumed wearing a Tampa Bay Lightning sweater. While he’s already passed the test of making the fans happy seeing him on the ice, he’s shown he can continue to get the job done.
Even if six games is a decent sample size to begin an evaluation of a trade deadline acquisition – after all, there are 15 games left in the regular season – this will still be labeled as a way-too-early look at how his return has looked. This will strictly look at on-ice performance.
Back Like He Never Left
In his first game back, Gourde stepped up in the clutch. In the Lightning’s comeback win over the Buffalo Sabres on March 6, he assisted the game-winning goal scored by fellow former Seattle Kraken Oliver Bjorkstrand. Gourde has put up four points in his first six games back in his pre-expansion trade team. He’s also had a multipoint game that came in the 6-2 win over the Boston Bruins on March 15.
He’s yet to score a goal himself thus far, something he did 80 times in his first stint in Tampa Bay. However, he has assisted two go-ahead goals and two game-winning goals. He’s been both consistent and timely, and that matters. Let’s say, for example, he got these points in a garbage-time situation such as a second empty-net goal or when the Lightning already were leading big. His stats wouldn’t hold the same weight.
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If we look just at his contribution to the scoresheet, the Lightning have won the majority of the games that he’s got at least a point in and lost the majority of games where he went scoreless.
Outside of scoring, he has also continued to provide some physicality. With Mikey Eyssimont being traded off to acquired Gourde, there was some concern that the Lightning would be losing some of their muscle. While he’s not an enforcer to the same extent Eyssimont is, some of the Lightning fan base forgot Gourde is far from a pushover. Since returning, he has racked up 20 hits.
Gourde also provides a similar level of defense as Eyssimont. He has a 1.8 defensive points share compared to the departed player’s 1.9. So, the Lightning added more scoring depth without sacrificing much in other areas.
What We Can Expect Going Forward
Since this is a way-too-early evaluation, it’s only reasonable to check what we can actually expect out of him going forward. We’re going to base this on how Gourde will play if he stays healthy. He has missed some time this season, and that can hinder production at any time. But assuming he stays healthy, the Lightning should be able to expect some solid production from him.
At first glance, it looks like Gourde just had a few good games. But before his injury, he was already picking up the pace back on the West Coast. In his first 15 games of the season, he had just three points (0.2 points per game). In the 20 following games leading up to his injury, he had 13 points (0.65 points per game). It was nearly an even split between goals (six) and assists (seven). His four points in six games is virtually the same rate of scoring.
For the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Gourde’s production tends to vary. However, outside of the 2021 Stanley Cup run that saw him score at a rate of .28 points per game, he’s been able to produce, at minimum, at a rate of a half point per game. During his most recent playoff run, he had 13 points in 14 games – his best scoring rate in a playoff. However, just because he saw career highs a couple years ago doesn’t mean we should expect that again. He’s in a very different situation now. Gourde is a depth scorer again, as opposed to a key forward on the roster. But it reveals a potential ceiling.
