Yanni Gourde plays with an intense pace. He’s physical. He brings energy to every shift, and he pushes those around him to be better. His Tampa Bay Lightning teammates have long described him as a relentless player.
A Birmingham hip resurfacing preserves more bone than other surgical options and can allow for more strenuous activity, but only a handful of players have opted for the surgery and successfully returned to the NHL.
“For two weeks I was in and out,” Gourde said of electing for surgery. “I was like, ‘Oh I'm getting it done’. And the next day I was like, ‘No, I'm not doing it’. There's so much that goes into it with the timing, where I'm at in my career, how much more can I sustain this? Can I do it one more year? If I don't do it and then I get hurt early in the season, I'm done for the rest of the year. There’s so much that goes into making that decision.”
It was a big—and scary—decision, but also a necessary move in the eyes of both Gourde and Lightning director of sports medicine and head athletic trainer Tom Mulligan.
Every game was a battle last season, which makes the fact that Gourde was the only Bolt to appear in every regular season game even more impressive. Gourde, 34, had managed through the pain for years.
“After games it was hard, but then the next day I was feeling better. I’ve gotta credit the medical staff because they got me to play in all 82 last year, and I felt good enough to play them. There was days where I was doubting it a bit, but they got me through it…Every day as a group, we talked about getting that surgery done eventually at the end of the year…We had a lot of different conversations because it's a big procedure, if it's the right time,” Gourde said.
“And it was definitely the right time to do it because I was struggling a bit.”
That struggle affected his skating stride and extended into everyday life, too.
He would stand without putting any weight on one leg. He couldn’t put both socks on, bend over to tie his shoes or skates without taking a break. He couldn't sit at the dinner table for extended periods of time without laying one leg to the side.
“I started to notice there's so much stuff that I was doing completely different than before. You start changing it a little bit because you feel more comfortable in that position. Now it's always that position because this hurts, and it's the slight change of angle in the hip that creates that. Once I started noticing how much I was changing off the ice, I'm like, there must be a lot of stuff on the ice that I do differently just to compensate, right? Eventually tying my skates, you go down twice. You go, you tie up one part, get out of it, and then go back, tie up the rest of the skate.”
It was visible to those around him, too. Mulligan and the Lightning medical staff worked with Gourde daily last season.
“He basically had a loss of range of motion and pain, and it affected his daily life, his daily activities. He was able to manage through last season and played 82 games, played every game in the playoffs, but every day was a challenge,” Mulligan said.
“Obviously this was a pretty significant procedure, so it got to the point where there was a lot of discussion on whether or not to do it, and the fact that it affected his daily life was what kind of pushed the needle to this needs to be done.”
A Birmingham hip resurfacing preserves more bone than other surgery options and can allow for more strenuous activity, but only a handful of players have elected for the operation and returned to extended NHL careers.
Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane is one example and has been effective since undergoing the surgery and extensive time for recovery.
The road back
Gourde proceeded with the surgery on June 8 through a specialist in New York, and rehabilitation began immediately.
Due to the limited number of comparable surgeries in the NHL, Gourde and Mulligan leaned on the surgeon and therapist close to the surgery.
“Our guys like Mikey (Poirier) and Tyler (Bacarro), they were unreal through the summer, just going through different scenarios,” Mulligan said. “A lot of it was unknown, and that's why it’s hard to put a definitive timeline on it because you don't know how he's going to react in different scenarios until they actually do it.”
The muscles surrounding Gourde’s hip were largely affected by the injury over the past few seasons. In some ways, Gourde’s recovery meant starting from scratch.
“It's starting from relearning how to use the hip, that leg and the muscles around the hip joint because he gained motion that he hasn't had for years,” Mulligan said. “You're relearning muscles, relearning how they work, and then you get onto the ice and he has to relearn the skating stride and his power. It's a gradual process that you have to go through.”
Gourde began walking the same day as the procedure and met with a physical therapist in New York 24 hours later. Mulligan said the process might’ve included the best collaboration he’s seen between the team’s medical and development group and outside medical staff.
Gourde’s cousin, a physical therapist, visited Gourde at home for two-hour appointments four days a week this summer. He hit the ice for the first time in a track suit nine weeks post-op, beginning with 30 to 40 minute on-ice sessions three days a week.
“I put in the work this summer to come here and be as ready as possible to where I was at in the schedule. After that the staff here took over, and we kept chipping away. There's a lot of work behind this, and I'm excited that I’m getting closer.”
He transitioned to hour-long sessions with Lightning Director of Player Development Randi Milani around five days a week throughout September as he continued to refine his skating and body movements.
“It started slow, just loading up that leg and figuring out how to skate again because I've compensated so much over the years, so my knee was not in the right spot. I was always loading outside instead of underneath me,” Gourde said.
“It was just having some better cues of what was happening with my knee. Randi was great. She sees a lot of that stuff in those little details, those little micro-adjustments that I used to make, saying ‘Hey, we’ve gotta work on these, and you’ve gotta get under that hip and load it up’, and then slowly we progressed.”
‘Exceeded everything’
Gourde’s high energy and competitive on-ice nature was also present in his recovery, as he told those involved in his recovery that his sole goal was to be ready for opening night.
His initial medical timeline was mid-December, but Gourde’s already back in his game threads in November.
Mulligan recalled a conversation with Gourde in August when the player said he was going to be ready by Oct. 1. They had to pump the brakes on that idea, but Gourde’s work ethic allowed for an even quicker and more successful return than expected.
“That's one of the fun things about this job and our staff, we get to work with players who are so motivated. They push the needle, and it challenges you to try to progress things as fast as you can, but keep it safe. And that was one of the fun parts about working with Gourdo was just trying to put the reins on him,” Mulligan said of the process. “If you have 45 minutes of work for him, he wants to do an hour and a half.”
Just as Mulligan was wrapping up that thought last week, Gourde walked down the hallway near the locker room at Benchmark International Arena. He smiled before ribbing his trainer.
That’s how Gourde approached the entire process, Mulligan said. It was never a pity party, rather a drive to stay positive and get back on the ice however possible.
“He's exceeded everything we even could have imagined,” Mulligan said of Gourde’s recovery. “I’m not surprised, but that's just who he is and what he does and how he works. He has just completely shattered our expectations.”
Sunday was just the beginning, as Gourde continues to work his way back to game speed. But he isn’t focused on whether he’s a better player than he was pre-surgery.
His return adds intensity, physicality, depth scoring and a constant energy that’s frequently commended by his teammates and coaches.
“I'm just gonna be Yanni Gourde out there,” he said. “The medical staff got me ready every game last year. I was ready to go, and I was feeling good enough that I thought I could have an impact on the game, and I just hope to have the same mentality, same impact on each game, each presence, each time I go on the ice. That’s the goal. I don't think about better or worse. I just think about, what can I do to make myself successful and my team successful?”
That’s who Gourde is—and will continue to be—after a tenacious journey back to the ice over the past several months.
