Despite being a team on the fringe of the NHL Playoffs , the Tampa Bay Lightning still see themselves as a true threat to win the Stanley Cup, so it should come as no surprise that they bolstered their roster at the 2024 Trade Deadline. Instead of going all in with a blockbuster move, however, this season general manager Julien BriseBois took a simpler approach by acquiring Anthony Duclair and a 2025 7th-round pick from the San Jose Sharks for a 2024 third-round pick and defensive prospect Jack Thompson.
For Duclair, this change of scenery back to the state of Florida could be a welcome one. In his first two seasons with the Florida Panthers, he blossomed into a top-line scoring threat capable of posting 30-plus goals. However, injuries slowed his game, and he was eventually dealt to the Sharks in a cap-relief move this offseason
While in San Jose, Duclair still managed to score 16 goals and 27 points for a team that has been, at best, offensively anemic. The Sharks aren’t a great team this season, so you have to judge his output on a bit of a curve.
In a vacuum, this trade makes sense for Tampa Bay. Despite featuring one of the top offensive players this season in Nikita Kucherov, the franchise has lacked scoring punch throughout their line-up. This has made the Lightning very dependent on their powerplay to win games, which is great when you have the best one of those in the NHL, but you simply can’t expect to score three goals with the man advantage each night, especially in the postseason.
