Seattle Kraken Grades: Yanni Gourde

In our next edition of Seattle Kraken Grades, we look at center Yanni Gourde. The 32-year-old from Quebec has seen his share of ups and downs in his career thus far. Since joining the Kraken in 2021-22 via the expansion draft, he has been steadily mediocre. I say that in regards to his overall production and impact on the team, up against his hefty $5.167 million AAV salary.

Season Recap

As I stated before, since he arrived in Seattle, he has been good but not great. Certainly, he doesn't carry the same impact as he did as apart of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the earlier part of his career. Last season, however, was a major step back for him as he struggled for most of the season.

In 80 games, he contributed 11 goals and added 22 assists for 33 points. That was the second-lowest point total for him since joining the league in 2015-16. The Kraken, as a whole, were ranked 29th in goals for last season. Gourde, who has been a 20+ goal scorer before, didn't help the situation with the offensive woes.

Another area where Gourde fell off the wagon a bit was at the face-off dot. Consistently, he has been hovering around 50% or higher in face-offs during his career, but last season saw him drop to 47.8%. That isn't a crazy difference, but it is significant when he was the top center in that category last season for the Kraken.

But, not all was bad for Gourde, as he did contribute mightily in his bottom-six role with laying the body. He set a new career-high with 156 hits on the season.

For his 2023-24 season grade, Gourde earned a "C". It was a down year for most of this roster, as the offense just wasn't there It seriously put a big target on Gourde's back, as he is entering the final year of his six-year deal he signed with Tampa Bay back in 2018. It is fair to say that if Gourde cannot find a groove in the beginning part of next season, he may be one of the few who get dealt at the trade deadline.

He certainly adds to the grit and tenacity needed to be tough enough to handle the Western Conference, but can he add more offensive production to his game? With a year left in his deal, it is now or never for Gourde to leave a lasting impression.

How would you grade Yanni Gourde in 2023-24?