Listen up, high schoolers! Oh, sorry, scratch that, listen up everyone who can understand the delicate intricacies of NHL drama. Remember Yanni Gourde, that guy who skates around with the Seattle Kraken like he owns the place? Yeah, well, he’s just earned himself a mini-vacation – and not the fun kind. The dude got slapped with a two-game suspension for playing a game of ‘charge the opponent,’ with Edmonton Oilers’ very own Mattias Ekholm as the unlucky recipient. And let me tell you, it wasn’t just a friendly nudge.
Apparently, Gourde figured he hadn’t seen enough of the sky that night and decided to do some involuntary human telemetry, launching himself right into Ekholm’s head. Real smooth, Yanni. The NHL Department of Player Safety wasn’t having any of it, branding the move as unnecessary and dangerous. Uh-oh, history repeats itself – this isn’t Gourde’s first rodeo with suspensions. Flashback to 2018-19, and you’ll find him sidelined for a similar head-hunting escapade involving one Jordan Staal. Getting predictable, eh?
Now, let’s peek at Gourde’s report card for this season – and it’s a proper mixed bag. The guy’s been in all 45 games for Seattle, gracing the scoresheet with seven goals and 19 points. But wait, there’s more – he’s matched wits with Vince Dunn for a whopping 48 penalty minutes. Behold, the co-captain of the Sin Bin Squadron! Third season in, and Gourde is still a big fish in that Kraken pond, chomping on over 17 minutes of ice time a game and turning the penalty kill into his personal stomping ground.
Before he was the Kraken’s prize catch from Tampa Bay, Yanni was just another hopeful in the AHL shark tank with Worcester. Started strong, but had a rookie stumble before hitting his stride and eventually catapulting into the NHL spotlight with Tampa. The guy was a goal factory in his prime, putting up a whopping 25 goals and 64 points in that first full show. Though he’s yet to break that personal best, consistency is his middle name — Gourde’s hit 48 points three times since then, including last season. Talk about clinging to a number, right?
But hey, let’s not forget the guy wasn’t even drafted. That’s right, Yanni Gourde is proof that sometimes, the undrafted ones come back to bite you – or, you know, come back to get suspended. Keep it feisty, Gourde, but maybe, just maybe, try to keep the skates on the ice, okay?