NHL.com’s fantasy staff continues to cover the latest trends and storylines in the League through the lens of NHL EDGE puck and player tracker stats. Today, we take a look at the impact of the Tampa Bay Lightning acquiring forwards Oliver Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde.
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The Tampa Bay Lightning acquired forwards Oliver Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde from the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday, reopening their Stanley Cup window with two advanced stats standouts joining their championship-winning core.
Gourde, who won the Stanley Cup twice with Tampa Bay in 2020 and 2021, rejoins the Lightning’s championship core of forwards Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, defenseman Victor Hedman and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, as well as coach Jon Cooper. Since Gourde’s departure to Seattle in the 2021 Expansion Draft, the Lightning have also acquired and signed elite wings Jake Guentzel and Brandon Hagel.
Bjorkstrand has untapped potential having never played with such a potent offense in his career; he is a five-time 20-goal scorer and played his first seven seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets before spending the past three with the Kraken. While Bjorkstrand is likely best suited for a second-line wing role, Gourde will likely reassume his third-line role from Tampa Bay’s championship years and be a valuable two-way presence for face-offs and on the penalty kill.
Here are three key NHL EDGE stats surrounding Bjorkstrand and Gourde with Tampa Bay:
High-danger goals
Per NHL EDGE stats, the addition of Bjorkstrand gives the Lightning the most players of any team with at least 10 high-danger goals (seven) this season:
• Brayden Point (22 high-danger goals)
• Jake Guentzel (17)
• Brandon Hagel (15)
• Nikita Kucherov (13)
• Nick Paul (13)
• Anthony Cirelli (12)
• Oliver Bjorkstrand (11)
As a team, the Lightning have scored 113 high-danger goals, tied with the Dallas Stars for the most in the NHL this season. Tampa Bay’s offense is led by Kucherov, who won his second Art Ross Trophy (144 points) last season and ranks third in points (90) this season, and has four players among the League’s top 15 in goals:
• Point (32; tied for fourth)
• Hagel (30; tied for ninth)
• Guentzel (29; tied for 12th)
• Kucherov (28; 15th)
Bjorkstrand has scored 11 of his 16 goals this season from high-danger areas (86th percentile), more than double his total from last season (five in 82 games). Gourde has been being limited to 36 of Seattle’s 62 games this season but has scored half of his goals (three of six) from high-danger areas. Eight of Gourde’s 11 goals last season were from high-danger areas.
Shot speed
The Lightning have 88 shot attempts this season of at least 90 miles per hour, second most in the NHL behind the Edmonton Oilers (98), with all but five of those shots coming from their defensemen. Hedman ranks second in the entire NHL in 90-plus mph shots (49; behind Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard’s 60), while his Tampa Bay teammate Darren Raddysh ranks sixth in the League (29).
Bjorkstand ranks in the 88th percentile among forwards in average shot speed (62.27 mph) this season and frequently shoots on net from distance; he ranks in the 84th percentile in midrange shots on goal (41) and is among the forward leaders in long-range shots on goal (24; 97th percentile).
Skating distance on special teams
Gourde, who returned to Seattle’s lineup against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday after a two-month absence (sports hernia surgery), had an assist and won 8-of-9 faceoffs. Only Jared McCann scored more shorthanded goals (six) than Yanni Gourde (four) during his time with the Seattle Kraken since 2021-22.
Last season, Gourde ranked in the League's 94th percentile in total skating distance on the penalty kill (23.98 miles). The Lightning rank 10th in penalty kill percentage (81.1 percent) and third in shorthanded goals (10) this season behind the Florida Panthers (12) and New York Rangers (11). With Gourde returning to Tampa Bay and Vasilevskiy (9-1-1 with .946 save percentage, two shutouts in past 11 games) still at the top of his game, the Lightning could be poised for a deep playoff run after consecutive first-round exits.
Over the past two seasons combined, Bjorkstrand led the Kraken in power-play goals (12) and was tied for their most power-play points (33). Despite Seattle ranking in the bottom half of the League in power-play opportunities (168; 20th) this season, Bjorkstrand ranks in the 80th percentile in total power-play skating distance (19.68 miles).
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More: EDGE stats for Lightning
