The Tampa Bay Lightning are making another run at the Stanley Cup, acquiring Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand from the Seattle Kraken.

As part of the trade package, the Lightning will get Bjorkstrand and Gourde, who waived their no-trade clauses to go there, along with a fifth-round pick in exchange for a first-round pick in 2026 and 2027, Toronto’s second-round pick in 2025, and Micheal Eyssimont.

The Lightning were setting up something big when they placed Cam Atkinson ($900,000 AAV) on waivers to give themselves a little over $6 million in cap space. It was the first time in many years that the Lightning had actual cap space to acquire players. Most of the time, they operated in LTIR. That is not against the rules, but Lightning GM Julien BriseBois was always spending to the cap.

What made Tampa Bay so hard to play against in their runs to back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021, and a third trip in 2022, was how well they played defense. Having Ryan McDonagh back helps, but adding a two-way, hard-nosed center like Yanni Gourde gives the Lightning’s bottom-six a punch that has been missing for a while. Gourde was an integral piece to the Cup runs.

Not only do they get Yanni Gourde, but Oliver Bjorkstrand as well. He is another two-way, good defensive, scoring winger. He is perfect for the third-line. Again, the third and fourth lines powered Tampa to championships. Yes, the top guys scored, but their bottom-six was one of the best at the time.

Seattle had players that teams wanted. Gourde was on the list for contending teams looking for center depth. Oliver Bjorkstrand has another year left on his deal. This is similar to when they acquired Blake Coleman , who had a year plus left on his deal.

But these two are not the only players that will be on the move . Brandon Tanev , Jamie Oleksiak , and Jared McCann are names that are out there as the Kraken try to reshape their roster and image moving forward.

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