Lightning Sign Gourde to Six-Year Extension

The Tampa Bay Lightning re-signed forward Yanni Gourde to a six-year contract extension worth $5.16-million AAV on Friday. The 26-year-old was set to become an unrestricted free-agent this off-season. The contract also includes a limited no-trade clause in the final three years of the deal.

Gourde went undrafted despite piling up 37 goals and 87 assists in 68 games in his final year in the QMJHL, earning the league’s MVP award. He bounced around the AHL and ECHL for four seasons before signing as a free agent with the Lightning in 2014. He played another three seasons for Tampa Bay’s AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, before finally securing an NHL roster spot last season.

Gourde was one of the most surprising players in the league last year, registering 25 goals and 39 assists in his first full season. He is off to an equally impressive start this season, logging four goals and eight assists through 12 games. He is a significant part of the Lightning’s dynamic forward corps and is now locked up through the 2024-25 season.

The Lightning currently have a little more than $2-million in cap space. Brayden Point is the next in line to receive a pay day with his entry-level contract expiring after this season. Luckily for the Lightning, the contracts of Anton Stralman, Braydon Coburn, and Dan Girardi are all set to expire after this season. It might leave them relatively thin on the blue line, but it will free up an additional $11.2-million in cap space.

Even with all that money coming off the books, Tampa will be hard-pressed to get underneath the cap for next season. In addition to having to re-sign the restricted free-agent Point, Gourde and Nikita Kucherov’s contract extensions will kick in. Gourde and Kucherov’s new contracts will cost Tampa more than $10-million in additional cap space. They have the option of signing Point to some sort of bridge deal in an effort to lower his cap hit, but they’ll likely still need to shed some more salary. Alex Killorn, Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, and Ryan Callahan combine for over $20-million in cap space. They would be the most logical trade candidates to bring cap relief for the Lightning.

Aside from Point, all-star goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy would be the only core piece left to sign long-term. His contract is set to expire following the 2019-20 season, but thankfully for the Bolts, Callahan’s $5.6-million cap-hit will be off the books by then. As the Chicago Blackhawks know and the Toronto Maple Leafs are learning, it’s incredibly hard to keep a wealth of talent together in the salary-cap era. Tampa’s new management team will have to get creative if they don’t want to lose some cornerstone pieces.