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By Shayna Goldman, Eric Stephens and Lukas Weese
The Tampa Bay Lightning acquired forward Anthony Duclair and a 2025 seventh-round pick from the San Jose Sharks for defenseman Jack Thompson and a 2024 third-round pick, the teams announced Thursday.
Duclair was ranked number 10 in The AthleticThe last business meeting.
Two years removed from a 31-goal season, Duclair has been slowed by a torn Achilles tendon that he had surgically repaired last year in Florida.
Still, he’s playing on an expiring contract that carries a reasonable cap hit. He was a promising buy-low candidate for a Sharks team that is headed nowhere this season and is hungry to add future assets.
Duclair has good hands and can play on either wing. He was part of the Panthers’ run to the Stanley Cup Final last spring, scoring 11 points in 20 playoff games.
In 56 games this season, Duclair has 16 goals and 11 assists.
GO DEEPER
NHL Trade Ratings: Duclair gives Lightning a six-up boost in the middle
What is Tampa getting in Duclair?
It’s been nothing short of a bad season for Duclair in San Jose, with dips across the board offensively. Other than on the scoresheet, his shot creation, passing and transition efforts have all declined with the Sharks. The Lightning are likely betting that their environment is the reason for that downturn, and there’s certainly reason to believe that. Duclair’s top linemates this year with the Sharks are nowhere near the caliber of his top linemates in Florida: He went from Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe regularly to Fabian Zetterlund and Mikael Granlund. The key to Duclair meeting his strengths seems to be making sure he has plenty of support around him: pairing him with a playmaker, so he can be complementary on his wing.
At his best, he can add momentum to the Lightning lineup, which they could use outside of Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point’s minutes. The risk is that Duclair won’t return to that high-octane offense even on a better team, leaving the Lightning with a top-heavy offensive group and one less asset to contend with. — Shayna Goldman, NHL Writer
What kind of return is this for the Sharks?
Sharks general manager Mike Grier had to be happy internally as he watched Duclair score twice and assist on two goals against Dallas on Tuesday. The winger’s speed and skills were intriguing on their own, but that play only helped boost his value after a recent hot stretch. Although he only scored 27 points in 56 games, Duclair scored eight in his last five. His 16 goals tied Fabian Zetterlund for the team lead.
The draft pick didn’t land in the first or second round, but considering Duclair, 28, got off to a slow start in his only shortened season with San Jose, it’s the best Grier could do under the circumstances. Prices for UFA-bound scoring wingers weren’t great, and Grier was able to replace a third-round pick he sent to Anaheim for then-unsigned defenseman Henry Thrun, who is now earning minutes on the Sharks’ blue line.
Grier, whose team is in position to win the draft lottery and select No. 1, still has two picks in each of the first two rounds thanks to the Erik Karlsson and Timo Meier trades. While Lightning’s prospect pipeline is not strong, The AthleticScott Wheeler’s Scott Wheeler ranked his group 31st: Thompson offers some intrigue as a right-handed shooter who has some offensive ability. He was a third-round pick by Tampa Bay in 2020 and has built on a solid rookie season in the AHL by scoring 32 points in 46 games with the Syracuse Crunch.
Wheeler on Thompson: “He has upside as a solid third-pairing defenseman and floor as at least a good AHL player. He is not a super creative offensive playmaker, nor does he have the size that teams crave in the staunch defensive types of him, but he has a bit of both and desirable laterality.” — Eric Stephens, NHL writer
Required reading
(Photo: Nick Turchiaro / USA Today)