The Tampa Bay Lightning have acquired forward Anthony Duclair and a 2025 seventh-round pick from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for defenseman Jack Thompson and a 2024 third-round draft pick.
This news comes late Thursday night after the Sharks announced that Duclair would sit out of the team’s matchup against the New York Islanders for trade-related reasons. Duclair has been in trade rumors for a while now, even hiring Paul Theofanous as his agent in preparation for a move, per The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta, after previously representing himself in contract negotiations. Theofanous represents a handful of other NHL veterans, including Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Kirill Kaprizov.
Duclair has fallen victim to a very low-scoring Sharks roster, scoring at his lowest point-per-game pace since his 2018-19 season with the Columbus Blue Jackets – excluding last year, when Duclair missed all but 20 games after suffering a torn Achille’s tendon. But Duclair has found ways to be productive despite his decreased scoring, still leading San Jose in goals with 16 and ranking fifth on the team in points with 27.
Duclair established himself as a strong goal-scorer as soon as he entered the league, netting 20 goals and 44 points as a rookie in the 2015-16 season. He’s since topped the 20-goal mark two other times, including when he scored a career-high 31 goals and 58 points in 74 games during the 2021-22 season. Duclair hasn’t seen much of the postseason in his 10-year career in the league, though he did manage 11 points in 20 playoff games with the Florida Panthers last season. He’ll need to quickly adjust to summertime hockey, with Tampa vying for one of the two Eastern Conference Wild Cards.
In exchange for their best goal-scorer, San Jose receives 21-year-old defenseman Jack Thompson, a third-round draft pick in the 2020 NHL Draft who received his NHL debut earlier in the year but failed to score a point. Thompson has otherwise spent his season in the AHL, leading Syracuse Crunch defensemen in scoring with 32 points in 46 games. He’s developed a strong ability to work with his forwards, boasting strong puck-handling that allows him to control breakouts and contribute from the offensive blue-line. While his decisions could afford to be a little quicker, Thompson’s strong passing and off-puck movements help him boost his team’s offense from the back-end. He will look to continue adding strength and poise on the defensive side of the puck as he now fights to climb San Jose’s depth chart. Thompson’s right-handedness gives him a slight advantage on some of his new teammates, though, as San Jose is currently carrying just three righties on their NHL lineup
Wow what a great bit of asset management Grier did with Duclair. Upgraded the pick he gave up by two rounds and got a very solid prospect out him as well. That’s how you weaponize cap space as a rebuilding team.
Duclair will be an impact rest of the way. He’s been extremely hot of late
Hansel hot?
Good for Duclair, He leaves a toxic organization and A toxic high tax state for Florida, And an organization that knows something about winning, Did I mention no state tax in Florida?
The tax thing is more legit then people realize. Players are taxed about 50% in Canada and California, cally being the worst in the states to my understanding. The no tax states like texas, Florida and Tennessee the players are taxed around 37%. Thats about 1M extra on every 6M they take home. You can Google gow much are you taxes on $1M in “X” state and see if you are curious. I dont really understand how those teams dont pay players slightly less and have them clear the same amount or more, so the teams can stack the roster for championships. Like if your worth 8 sign in Florida for 6M for 1 or 2 years go on deep playoff runs, then sign where ever for 8M and still make the same money.
Except that is wrong @ Murphy. A professional athlete gets paid for where the games are played. For example, Austin Matthews is taxed at the ONT rate for the games he plays in OTT and TOR. He also gets taxed the Florida rate when he plays his games in Tampa and Sunrise Florida, not in Ontario. It is why John Tavares is taking the CDN govt to court over his taxes. They are claiming he made whatever in bonuses/signing incentives. He is claiming he makes those during the offseason while he resides elsewhere (a no tax state). Add in the fact these athletes have professional lawyers to be their agents who employ accountants to make sure these guys aren’t missing out on much when the tax collector comes around. Sure some could be taxed less come that time of year, but the high end guys are making more in local advertisements than the tax takes away anyways, and opening up more possible ad revenue to their account.
If you think Draisaitl is making less than Matthew Tkachuk at the end of the day…. you’re fuct. They may have near equal contracts. But do you think Tkachuk is making the same in promo in South Florida as Draisaitl is in Edmonton?
That’s interesting I never knew that they were taxed based on what state or city they actually played the games in. Nice post, gonna look into that.
Why else would Mike Trout, Clayton Kershaw, Aaron Judge, ect stay in states like NYC or CAL with high income taxes, instead of moving to states like Nevada or Texas or Florida with minimal income taxes but high property taxes. Every state/province has its benefits/deficiencies regarding taxes. Just because Florida Texas Nevada and Tennessee have minimal to no income taxes doesn’t mean they don’t make it back in other way.
For example, do you think a Canadian wants to live in a state where there are more guns than people?
Yup. The usual high income tax state argument is other states pay no taxes at all. I’m not from Texas but I recall paying 8.25% sales tax in Dallas. The quickest way around it is to live in MA, NY, or Ontario. I’ve had tax attorneys from those states deny there is a sales tax in TX.
Nice to see a scoring addition to the Lightning. Looks like a fair deal for both sides. Sharks have weaponized their cap space. Lightning got a rental for the games where it matters most without having to pay a full season’s salary.