Player Discussion: Yanni Gourde

[VoluntaryDom]

Maybe as a third triplet. I don't think he's showing anywhere near the flashes JAM did. JAM created a fair amount of plays and had a lot of near-misses to go along with a small amount of production. I'm seeing a lot more "energy guy" with Gourde. Like a higher energy, lower skilled, version Vlad Namestnikov.

Sounds about right. He's not as good as JAM for sure, but he should be a 30-point 3rd liner.

If he gets Kucherov he'll be like ppg lol

 

[VoluntaryDom]

He was really bad tonight. It even stood out when compared with how bad everyone else played. A few of his passes and decisions were head scratchers.

Everyone sucked last night

 

[EXTRAS]

Game winner tonight in overtime. Crazy that he has gone from what seemed like an AHL lifer at 25 years old to a guy getting 16-17 minutes a night, 2-3 special teams minutes a night, and now opportunity in overtime. Did not see this coming.

But glad for my fantasy keeper league. He was like my 50th contract that I just owned for no real reason.

 

[Six Assets]

Against Ottawa, he impressed me a lot. I wasn't sure who he was so I had to Google his name. Has impressed so far.

 

[DFC]

Aside from both his goals being MASSIVE for our playoff hopes, what I like most about him is his penalty killing. Several times now, he's singlehandedly killed valuable seconds while fending off half the other team in the offensive zone. Could be his ticket to an NHL future.

 

[Volodya Krutov]

I'm sticking to that John Madden comparison, wow. I only hope it's sustainable.

 

[CupsOverCash]

I don't know if anybody has talked about it or not but a few nights before Gourde scored his first goal, VL4 was on the Lightning radio talking about how he was impressed with Gourde and how he thought if he gets a real shot at this team that he could be a decent player for this team. Something along those lines. Now he's scored a couple of real clutch goals for this team. It's still early but Vinny may be onto something.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

I don't know if anybody has talked about it or not but a few nights before Gourde scored his first goal, VL4 was on the Lightning radio talking about how he was impressed with Gourde and how he thought if he gets a real shot at this team that he could be a decent player for this team. Something along those lines. Now he's scored a couple of real clutch goals for this team. It's still early but Vinny may be onto something.

Vinny is right again.

Let's just hope that when Yanni needs a new contract, he chooses cups over cash

 

[VoluntaryDom]

Aside from both his goals being MASSIVE for our playoff hopes, what I like most about him is his penalty killing. Several times now, he's singlehandedly killed valuable seconds while fending off half the other team in the offensive zone. Could be his ticket to an NHL future.

Yes. His PK work has been very impressive, an we have tons of guys now who can PK once Johnson, Paquette, Stamkos and Callahan get healthy,

 

[The Macho King]

I would be fine with him on the fourth line. Decent on the dot, good motor, no quit in his game.

 

[gg720fla]

Please keep him for next season along with Dumont instead of Paquette and Brown. Give Erne more time and he will take Killorn's spot also. I think his offensive skills will come and match Killorns and he is way more physical and a better skater.

 

[2020 Cup Champions]

 

[Bolt32]

Career wise this is probably Gourde's last legit chance at cracking the big leagues. You know what though? Props to the kid because he's making a hell of a run for it. I would not mind bringing him back on our bottom six next year. He's been awesome for us in that role.

 

[DFC]

Career wise this is probably Gourde's last legit chance at cracking the big leagues. You know what though? Props to the kid because he's making a hell of a run for it. I would not mind bringing him back on our bottom six next year. He's been awesome for us in that role.

Yeah, I think he's in the conversation. His work on the PK has been great, from what I can tell, and given how injury prone some of our better PKers are, it might be good to keep that around. And, also unlike a lot of our current PKers, he can probably put up a handful of points over 82 games, even in a bottom-six role.

 

[Volodya Krutov]

Let's not pull another Marchessault please. Gourde is not going to score 30 goals anytime soon but you get my drift.

 

[RaykwonDaChef]

No he won't score 30 goals - but he skates very well, and can kill a Penalty. If he learns to create a little better that with his skating ability will be very beneficial in a bottom 6 role.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

His offense is looking good too.

 

[DFC]

No he won't score 30 goals - but he skates very well, and can kill a Penalty. If he learns to create a little better that with his skating ability will be very beneficial in a bottom 6 role.

I think it depends on our options. I would have liked to keep JAM to add scoring to our top-9. That said, I don't believe Cooper would have played him even if he were here.

Keeping Gourde is more about energy/defense. He's been more effective than JT Brown, mainly because he also brings a touch of offense. I doubt he'll ever be a 35 point guy though, even on shallow team. JAM did have flashes where he showed he was capable of scoring... maybe not a 30 goal-scorer (that's just nuts), but definitely an NHL level scorer. Gourde doesn't show those offensive flashes, but, right now, he seems to do (almost) everything Brown does + more offense.

 

[TeslaCoilFan]

As others have said, he's been really valuable on the PK. Eating up minutes with all his energy and a rather decent defensive side.

As to his offense, he may only have two goals, but they're both clutch ones.

I could see him on our bottom 6 without much trouble.

 

[Todd1a]

Career wise this is probably Gourde's last legit chance at cracking the big leagues. You know what though? Props to the kid because he's making a hell of a run for it. I would not mind bringing him back on our bottom six next year. He's been awesome for us in that role.

I would he brings much more to the table then jt brown at this point or ceddy!

 

[Hoek]

He could be kind of our second chance at making a JAM type player work out. The good thing is he can play PK so there's more of a role for him in general than JAM, who was scoring line, PP, or bust.

 

[wxkid23]

I like him, I'm for giving him a chance to stick around.

 

[HoseEmDown]

Gourde has as many ES goals as Marchessault did last year playing 1/3 less games. Gourde is also doing it with weaker linemates, the Lightning lineup this year is nothing compared to last year, so put Gourde with another skilled player or two and his production should improve. His PK skill is also great, looks like Johnson when he first came into the league. To look at Marchessault's current season and try to compare Gourde to him is unfair, Marchessault is having a career season. But to compare them as Lightning players I like what I see from Gourde much more than Marchessault, Marchessault has a great shot but needs others around him to make him look good and his defensive player was atrocious, Gourde creates more on his own and can be trusted on both ends of the rink.

 

[wxkid23]

I may be off, but his GP in the minors seem all over the place and sometimes low. Has he had any injury issues, or just jumped around a lot?

 

[HoseEmDown]

I may be off, but his GP in the minors seem all over the place and sometimes low. Has he had any injury issues, or just jumped around a lot?

His first full pro season he played 62 games, 73 second year, 76 third, 67 fourth and 70 this year. He bounced between the AHL and ECHL his first two years and was traded once in his second year but besides that it seems he's pretty healthy with just a handful of missed games a year.