Making Him Feel Right At Home 

Kraken newcomer Mitchell Stephens won’t soon forget the help Yanni Gourde provided him both on the ice and especially away from it when they first became NHL teammates and Stanley Cup champions in Tampa Bay five years ago.

Stephens, 27, had made his NHL debut that 2019-20 season only a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. The ensuing league shutdown meant that season’s playoffs began in August 2020 in “bubble” zones in Toronto and later Edmonton – with players quarantined there well in advance.

Spouses were only permitted to attend and see their husbands and boyfriends again starting with the conference finals in Edmonton, but protocols were so strict the Lightning wives and girlfriends decided they’d all stay home and meet up again in Tampa Bay if the team made the Cup Final. And when that happened, Gourde and his wife, Marie-Andree, invited Stephens’ then-girlfriend and now-wife Emma, who is from Ontario, to stay with her at their second home in Florida.

“Emma went to stay at their home because I was away in Edmonton in the bubble,” Stephens said. “It made things much easier on her and then after we won the Cup, the four of us stayed down there together another week celebrating.”

Their former Lightning team makes its only Climate Pledge Arena visit Saturday to play the Kraken, reviving memories for both players of their time together then and since. For Stephens, now a journeyman NHL center who signed with the Kraken this past summer and was called up from AHL Coachella Valley two weeks ago, getting to know Gourde – who is five years his senior -- that rookie season made all the difference.

“He took me under his wing and really helped me and my family out,” Stephens said. “When we came back from the ‘bubble,’ he and Marie let us stay with them. He was just always inviting me out to dinner when I was young and just making sure I was around the team and involved.”

There are marked differences between the career paths taken by Stephens, a 2nd-round, 33rd overall draft pick by Tampa Bay in 2015 and the undrafted Gourde, who began his free agent AHL career in 2011 and didn’t crack the Lightning lineup full-time for another six years. But pedigree only gets you so far, and after two serious lower body injuries in successive seasons and career fits and starts, Stephens found himself relying on Gourde's traits of hard work and hustle to keep getting NHL opportunities.

They’d first met as AHL teammates in 2015-16 and 2016-17 with Tampa’s Syracuse Crunch affiliate and in subsequent Lightning training camps ahead of Stephens making his December 2019 NHL debut.

“It’s just natural—he’s a good kid,” Gourde said of wanting Stephens to feel comfortable in new surroundings. “We played together a bit in the AHL and then a little bit in the NHL. He’s easy, and he’s a great kid, so you want to help those kids out whenever you have the opportunity. And maybe I can still do that this year.”

That first Lightning season saw Gourde at one point paired on a line with Stephens and Carter Verhaeghe.

“We were playing together and it was fun because there was lots of speed on that line,” Gourde said.

And once the delayed playoffs began, and the players eventually left Toronto for Alberta, it seemed only natural for Gourde and his wife to extend the invitation for Emma to stay with Marie-Andree at their Florida home.

“We were in the bubble, and then back in Tampa, it’s obviously much easier to be in a home than in a hotel,” Gourde said. “We knew then that they were great people, so it was an easy fit for Marie to invite them over.”

Stephens had scored a goal in his very first playoff game; a round-robin series win over Washington in what was then a pandemic-altered format. He’d play two more round-robin games, three more in an opening-round win over Columbus and another matchup in a conference final series against the New York Islanders.

From there, Stephens watched as a healthy scratch from the pressbox as Gourde went on to enjoy a seven-goal post-season, including two against Dallas in a six-game Cup Final with his wife and Stephens’ girlfriend watching on TV nervously from back at his Florida home.

And when it was done, with no fans in the building to celebrate their first Cup title, Gourde and Stephens headed back to his place, where the two couples stayed for another week.

“We had the Cup celebration together at my house,” Gourde said. “It was great, a good time. It was phenomenal. Everything you dream of.”

Both players got their names on the Cup that season and Gourde would get his engraved again the following year. But Stephens, who missed significant time due to a leg injury, appeared in only seven games and was kept off the Cup before leaving for Detroit the following season and getting hurt again there.

He spent the past two seasons in Montreal’s organization before signing with the Kraken, texting with Gourde once the deal was done. Gourde and his wife invited Stephens out to their Seattle-area home at the start of training camp and tried to make him feel as comfortable as possible.

“I don’t have specific advice, I just try to help guys by working hard at being a good teammate and a good person,” Gourde said. “But he’s a great kid. He’s a real pro, and he’s been around the league. He’s been in the AHL and the NHL and is doing everything he can to stick around the NHL by making the most of his opportunity.

“And again, he’s making the most of his opportunity here and he’s really sticking out by how well he’s playing for us.”

After impressing the Kraken’s coaching staff in camp, Stephens continued to work hard down in Coachella Valley before getting called up. He’s played seven games as a fourth-line center, logging an assist on a Brandon Tanev goal against the New York Rangers last Sunday.

The Kraken are now on a 4-1-1 roll with Stephens contributing to the team’s tightened defensive structure.

“Mitchell’s confident, he’s a good player, he’s good defensively, and he’s good in the faceoff circle.” Kraken coach Dan Bylsma said. “And he knows how to play the game to have success wherever he’s at in the lineup.”

Stephens attributes at least some of that to lessons instilled in him early by Gourde, a player who learned what it takes to survive in a league that wouldn’t draft him.

“There’s not a day where he doesn’t give his best,” Stephens said. “And just seeing that, I’ve tried to emulate it into my game and the way I go about things. The way he approaches things, everything’s to the fullest.”

Including Gourde’s home when a teammate and his significant other need a place to share a career highlight.