Lightning acquire Anthony Duclair, 2025 seventh-round pick from Sharks for Jack Thompson, 2024 third-round pick

By Shayna Goldman, Eric Stephens and Lukas Weese

The Tampa Bay Lightning have acquired forward Anthony Duclair and a 2025 seventh-round draft pick from the San Jose Sharks for defenseman Jack Thompson and a 2024 third-round pick, the teams announced Thursday.

Duclair was ranked No. 10 on The Athletic’s latest trade board.

Two years removed from a 31-goal season, Duclair has been slowed by the torn Achilles tendon he had surgically repaired last year in Florida.

Still, he’s playing on an expiring contract carrying a reasonable cap hit. He was a promising buy-low candidate from a Sharks team that is headed nowhere this season and hungry to add future assets.

Duclair has good hands and can play either wing. He was part of the Panthers’ run to the Stanley Cup Final last spring, scoring 11 points in 20 playoff games.

Through 56 games this season, Duclair has 16 goals and 11 assists.

What is Tampa getting in Duclair?

It’s been nothing short of a down season for Duclair in San Jose, with dips across the board offensively. Along with on the scoresheet, his shot creation, passing and transitional efforts have all dipped with the Sharks. The Lightning likely are betting on his environment being the reason for that downturn, and there certainly is reason to believe it. Duclair’s primary linemates this year with the Sharks are not near the caliber of his primary linemates in Florida — he went from Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe regularly to Fabian Zetterlund and Mikael Granlund. The key to getting Duclair to his strengths seems to be ensuring he has a lot of support around him — pair him with a play-driver, so he can be complementary on their wing.

At his best, he can add pop off the rush to the Lightning lineup, which they could use outside of Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point’s minutes. The risk is that Duclair won’t get back to that high-octane offense even on a better team, leaving the Lightning with a top-heavy offensive group and one less asset to deal. — Shayna Goldman, NHL staff writer

What kind of return is this for the Sharks?

Sharks GM Mike Grier had to be a happy camper internally as he was watching 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 game only added to his rising value after a recent hot stretch. Even though he had only 27 points in 56 games, Duclair had 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 rounds, but considering that the 28-year-old Duclair had a sluggish start to his one abbreviated season with San Jose, it’s about 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 the Lightning’s prospect pipeline isn’t strong — The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler ranked its pool 31st — Thompson offers some intrigue as a right shot who has some offensive ability. He was a Tampa Bay third-round pick in 2020 and has built on a solid rookie season in the AHL by posting 32 points in 46 games with the Syracuse Crunch.

Wheeler on Thompson: “He’s got upside as a solid third-pairing defenseman and a floor as, at the very least, a good AHL player. He’s not a super creative offensive playmaker, nor does he have the size that teams covet in their staunch defensive types, but he’s got a little bit of both and desirable handedness.” — Eric Stephens, NHL staff writer

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(Photo: Nick Turchiaro / USA Today)