NHL trades today: Gourde, Bjorkstrand to Lightning, Penguins deal away Bunting and Desharnais

Two NHL trades dominated the headlines going into Friday’s deadline. The deals involved a three-team swap in which the Tampa Bay Lightning brought in a familiar face and a Pittsburgh Penguins-Nashville Predators trade.

Let’s start by looking at the three-team deal involving the Tampa Bay Lightning, Seattle Kraken and the Detroit Red Wings. The Lightning reacquired center Yanni Gourde, who was a member of Tampa’s 2020 and 2021 Cup-winning teams, along with forward Oliver Bjorkstrand in exchange for two first-round picks (2026 and 2027), plus Michael Eyssimont.

The Kraken retained 50% of Gourde’s cap hit. Meanwhile, the Detroit Red Wings hopped in the deal, joining as a third-party broker to retain another 25% of Gourde’s cap hit. The Red Wings got a fourth-round pick from Tampa for their trouble.

The deal solves a positional need at 3C for the Lightning while adding Bjorkstrand potentially rounds out Tampa’s top six.

The Kraken unloaded the most talked-about name for the club this season. Plus, unloading Bjorkstrand clears nearly $10 million in cap space that Seattle can use to add in the offseason.

Overall, Wednesday’s deal is one of the most interesting NHL trades this season as it could set up the Lightning for a strong playoff run this season. It remains unclear if the Lightning are done adding. But if they look to add more pieces, they might need to move another contract out the door to make the numbers work.

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Penguins busy with two NHL trades on Wednesday

The Pittsburgh Penguins were busy on Wednesday, pulling off two NHL trades. First, they swapped forward Michael Bunting with the Nashville Predators for veteran defenseman Luke Schenn and forward Tommy Novak. The Penguins sent a 2026 fourth-round pick to the Predators to round out the deal.

The other trade Pittsburgh pulled off on Wednesday, the Penguins sent defenseman Vincent Desharnais to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a 2028 fifth-round pick. The Penguins had acquired Desharnais in a deal with the Vancouver Canucks that sent Marcus Petterson and Drew O’Connor west.

The Bunting trade is an interesting one as it seems the deal was a cap dump for Pittsburgh. Bunting is in the second year of a three-year $13.5 million contract. Novak is a solid replacement for Bunting while Schenn could fill a positional need following Petterson’s departure.

Meanwhile, unloading Desharnais could be another cap dump. Desharnais signed a two-year deal with Vancouver his season, carrying a $2 million cap hit. The Sharks could be looking to shore up their defensive depth, particularly after trading Cody Ceci to the Dallas Stars.

It’s also worth pointing out that the Sharks could be looking to add blue line depth in preparation for another trade. Top defenseman Mario Ferraro has been rumored to be on the block in San Jose. So, it remains to be seen if the Sharks are setting the table for another one of this season’s NHL trades.