Yanni Gourde trade grade: Winners and losers from blockbuster move involving Lightning, Kraken and Oliver Bjorkstrand

The Tampa Bay Lightning and Seattle Kraken came together on Wednesday for a blockbuster deal just 48 hours before Friday's NHL trade deadline.

The trade sees Tampa Bay acquire Oliver Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde, while Seattle receives Mikey Eyssimont, two first round draft picks and a second round pick in return.

Sportsnet NHL insider Elliotte Friedman broke down the entirety of the deal in a post he shared on X (formerly Twitter), including that the Detroit Red Wings are involved as a third party to retain some of Gourde's salary.

Yanni Gourde is a pending UFA in the final season of a six-year, $31,000,000 contract, while Oliver Bjorkstrand is in the fourth season of a five-year, $27,000,000 deal.

Now that we've learned the full details of this massive deal, let's dive into trade grades for both teams.

Seattle Kraken: A-

For Seattle, this is about as good as it gets. With a 26-32-4 record, the Kraken sit 28th overall in the league standings, so they had to start selling some pieces. Yanni Gourde as a pending unrestricted free agent was an obvious candidate to be moved, while Bjorkstrand was more of a surprise as he has one year after this season on his deal.

However, packaging the two forwards brought a haul back in return. Two first round picks and another second round pick are exactly what Seattle needs to start re-building their system. After a strong start for the franchise, it's gone downhill in recent years. It was time to start accumulating some assets for the future and they did just that.

Tampa Bay Lightning: B

Tampa Bay is once again swinging for the fences. It was anticipated that general manager Julien BriseBois would go big-name hunting ahead of the deadline.

He gets that with Bjorkstrand and adds a familiar face in Yanni Gourde on top of it. These players will certainly give the Lightning a boost up-front, providing them with a much deeper top-9. However, the cost was not cheap. Two firsts and a second is a lot to give up for these two players, but the Bolts are in a position to compete for a Stanley Cup, so that's the price you have to pay.

Winners and losers of the big trade between the Kraken and Lightning

Winner: Seattle Kraken

The Seattle Kraken are a clear winner in this deal. Yanni Gourde at 33 years old as a pending UFA had no future with the team. It hurts to lose Oliver Bjorkstrand, but Seattle needs more high-end talent, and they have enough solid players that can fill his shoes in the long-run. The Kraken now possess five first round draft picks over the next three years that they can use to add to their system or even as trade bait down the road to acquire a better player.

Winner: Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand

Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorskstrand are also winners on Wednesday. Gourde gets to return to Tampa Bay, where he was a key part of the back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2019-20 and 2020-21. While Bjorkstrand gets his best opportunity of his career to compete for a Cup with the potential to play alongside superstars like Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Victor Hedman.

Loser: Tampa Bay Lightning draft capital

The overall trade isn't a loss for Tampa Bay, but their draft capital certainly takes a hit. The Bolts were already without their first-round pick in 2025 and now have shipped out their first in 2026 and 2027. They'll remain all-in for the next few years, but when their stars begin to age they'll pay the price for not having first round picks in three consecutive drafts. Look no further than the Pittsburgh Penguins.