Duclair heading back to Florida.

 Florida could bring back a familiar face before the deadline. 

We have another Quick hit blog to discuss as the Florida Panthers are a team who has done fantastic this year are currently looking to add to their team and with their goalies doing great and them having a pretty solid D-Corp right now, there is a lot of speculation that the Panthers are looking for some help up front as it isn't as strong as it was last year when they won the Cup and a rather cheap option could be a guy they got rid of in the offseason and would be a familiar face there, and that is current Shark Anthony Duclair. 

Now from the Sharks perspective this has been a extremely bad season and one of the worst in recent memory for them as they are currently in a race for the best odds in the draft lottery this upcoming offseason and they are in a position where they could move off a lot of pieces off their roster, not many might be moved given the fact that the Sharks don't have a ton of players on expiring deals who teams are interested in given their cap hits and production such as Labanc who has a $4.73 Million dollar cap hit and Hoffman who has a $4.5 Million dollar cap hit, but one guy who would be a hot commodity even at his $3 Million dollar AAV would be Anthony Duclair. Now Duclair is currently playing for his 7th team at the NHL level and the past few years he has really found a home with the Panthers as over a full 82 game season he has on pace to hit 40 point in each of his years in Florida and that included a career high 58 points with Florida 2 years ago, and last year he only played 20 games due to injuries but was still effective for Florida, but with a tight cap situation the Panthers needed some flexibility so they moved him to the Sharks and although San Jose has been horrible, Duclair has actually done well having 13 goals and 22 points so far in San Jose and that is one of the best point totals for the Sharks on their team, so he has been great and is one of the few Sharks I think lots of teams are interested in and would love to add so I do see him being moved.

Jasen Vinlove USA Today Sports

As for the Panthers, this team currently looks like one of the best in the NHL, as they are having a fantastic year as they are challenging Boston for the Atlantic lead and then and NYR for top spot in the East, so the Panthers are carrying on their success from last year when they went to the final, now in a perfect world this team would be able to go out and make some big adds before the deadline, but that isn't the world they are in as they are low on draft picks (no first this year or next) and their Prospect pool isn't the greatest either, which is why they may need to look at some lower end options and that is where Duclair comes in, as I wouldn't expect Duclair to cost too much, his AAV is not overly expensive and above all, he is very familiar with the team from playing there the last 3 seasons, so Duclair who is a excellent and speedy middle six winger may be the piece the Panthers are looking for right now and may be one of the best options the Panthers have to improve the team before the trade deadline.

Now as for what a trade could look like, as I said earlier the Sharks are in full sell mode right and would probably have Duclair as their best trade chip right now while the Panthers don't have many assets but would like to add and could possibly look at Duclair instead of a more expensive option such as Guentzel or Eberle, so in my eyes I don't see Duclair getting more then a 2nd round pick, so I think if the Panthers offered up maybe their 2025 3RD pick and maybe one more thing like a 4th or 5th round pick or a lower level prospect such as Sourdif or Alscher I think the Sharks would probably bite on a trade that sent Duclair back there, so no guarantee this happens but I feel the Panthers have the assets to pull off bringing their old teammate back for a playoff run. 

And I would love to hear your thoughts on this trade proposal down in the comments section below, do you think my trade prediction would make a deal work between the Sharks and Panthers and could you see a deal like this happen, or do you think the Panthers will go in a different direction, I would definitely love to hear what you think down below.