SEATTLE: After winning two straight Stanley Cup titles, Yanni Gourde has one of the more impressive resumes among the players selected by the Seattle Kraken in the NHL expansion draft.
But instead of being one of Seattles top forwards to start the team’s first season, Gourde is going to be stuck as a spectator when the puck finally drops after undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
Its been a complicated situation because its been bugging me for over 18 months. Theres a lot of stuff in that left shoulder that didnt work right and everything was caused by the labrum tear, Gourde said Tuesday. We kind of found that out when I went to see the doctor for surgery and thats what came out of it.
Seattle was fully aware of Gourdes surgery when it selected the talented forward in the expansion draft. The Kraken see Gourde as one of their top centers as he comes off Tampa Bays run to another title, a year during which he had 17 goals in the regular season and another six in the playoffs. Hes tied to Seattle through the 2024-25 season.
But the news of the surgery put a damper on the excitement. Gourde said hes been told recovery should be four months, which on the optimistic end would cause him to miss about six weeks of the regular season.
Its already going to be a challenge for the Kraken to pull together an entirely new roster and get them ready in about a month for the first game in franchise history. Gourde understands it may take a little time to fully find his role when hes finally ready to go in late November or early December.
I dont want to put pressure on myself, Gourde said. As soon as Im ready, Ill be ready. Ill be skating with the boys. Ill be battling. Like I said, my priority is to help this team win. Wherever I fit into the lineup thats where Im going to go and Im going to try to work as hard as I can do to help my team win."
While Seattle appears strong on the blue line and in goal, up front has seemed a little lackluster. With Gourde missing the first stretch of the season, Seattles likely center options include Alexander Wennberg, Jared McCann, Colin Blackwell and Calle Jrnkrok.
Gourde said his first impression of the Kraken roster is that it’s a hard-working group.
We might be one of the teams that play playoff hockey during a season, Gourde said. Just hard, hard to play against during the season, and that hopefully leads us to playing in a playoffs and then well see what happened.
___
More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here