Blockbuster trade, including Yanni Gourde and two first-round picks, gets done!

The Tampa Bay Lightning has pulled the trigger. Earlier on Wednesday, it was reported how the Tampa Bay Lightning and Seattle Kraken were working on a deal potentially involving Oliver Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde.

Now, the trade has been done with the Lightning sending first round pick in 26, first round pick in 27, Toronto’s 2nd in ’25 and Michael Eyssimont to the Kraken in return from Gourde and Bjokstrand, defenseman Kyle Aucoin and a fight round pick in ’26.

The Kraken also retains 50 per cent of Gourde's $5.17 million cap hit in the transaction.

Following this monster transaction, the Lightning is now without a first-round pick until the 2028 draft. The two first round picks Seattle gets are top-10 protected.

It’s a reunion for Gourde as he returns to Tampa Bay, where he won two Stanley Cups with the Lightning 2020 and 2021. The veteran forward just returned to action this week after missing 22 games after undergoing surgery to repair a sports hernia.

A pending unrestricted free agent, Gourde comes a $5.167 million cap hit on his expiring deal. He has put up six goals and 17 points in 36 games this season after posting 11 goals and 33 points in 80 games last season.

As for Bjorkstrand, he has collected 16 goals and 37 points in 61 games with the Kraken this season. He is closing on his seventh 20-goal campaign in the past eight years.

He is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of next season.

Seattle is 11 points back of the Calgary Flames for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference and looked to have chosen the selling route for the deadline.

Eyssimont heading back to Seattle is a pending unrestricted free agent carrying a cap hit of $800,000. He has five goals and 10 points in 57 games this season.

Tampa Bay has now collected a 9-1-1 record since the start of February, pushing the team from the wild-card race into a fight with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers for first in the Atlantic Division.