Lightning's New Signing Makes Kent Hughes Look Even Smarter Today
The Tampa Bay Lightning made a very interesting announcement in the past few hours. They have signed forward Yanni Gourde to a contract worth $2.33 million per year.
What's particularly interesting about this signing is the length!
Yanni Gourde signs for six seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning
Here's the official confirmation.
This is an interesting signing from Kent Hughes and the Montreal Canadiens' perspective, as my colleague David St-Jean points out, for a specific reason.
It effectively confirms that Kent Hughes made a smart move with the signing of Jake Evans.
Yanni Gourde's signing makes Jake Evans' deal look good
First, obviously because of the contract length, but secondly, because it wouldn't have looked very good for Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton if they had signed Jake Evans for $4 million per year, as some suggested, while Yanni Gourde ended up signing for less than $2.4 million per year.
In the end, Evans signed a four-year contract worth $2.85 million per year with the Canadiens.
"When you look at the contract Yanni Gourde just signed in Tampa Bay, you realize that $4 million would have been an overpay for Jake Evans," reads the article from Fanadiens.
And it's absolutely true!
Today's announcement of Yanni Gourde's signing by the Lightning confirms that Kent Hughes was right not to overpay to sign Jake Evans and that he did well to "stand his ground."
Evans, 29 years old, recorded 36 points in 82 games this season and is a solid, all-around center.
Gourde, 33 years old, recorded 31 points in 57 games this season and is also a very complete and versatile center.
| POLL | ||
JUIN 2 | 3403 ANSWERS Lightning's New Signing Makes Kent Hughes Look Even Smarter Today Who is the better player today, in your opinion? | ||
| Yanni Gourde | 1123 | 33 % |
| Jake Evans | 2280 | 67 % |
| List of polls | ||