Panthers Trade Duclair To Sharks

As some anticipated, the Florida Panthers traded Anthony Duclair to free up cap space. They sent him to the San Jose Sharks who didn't qualify a number of  RFAs and weren't too active in signing household names. The Sharks are going through a rebuild, but also might not want to be rebuilding for a long time. Acquiring the 27-year-old speedy winger for the final season might convince him to stick around longer or be used as a nice trade chip at the trade deadline in 2024.

Anthony Duclair is being traded to San Jose

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 1, 2023

The Panthers didn't have Duclair for much of last season due to a pretty serious injury and were fine. He has been a name thrown around as a trade candidate for some time, but it's unfortunate for the Panthers that they were forced to move him. $3 million AAV for a top-six winger who scored 31 goals in 2021-22 is a great contract. He will surely get more on his next deal, wherever that might be.

As of right now, details of the trade have yet to be released, but you can be certain it isn't a cap dump. This move for the Panthers will likely give Eetu Loustarainen a shot in the top-six and Grigori Denisenko and Aleksi Heponiemi shots in the bottom-six. The Panthers had to bolster their defense, and that's exactly what they did.

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