The deadline is fast approaching us and there’s a lot of rumors of swirling around the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers are looking for a winger to play with Leon Draisaitl. A few weeks ago, I touched on if former Oiler Jordan Eberle would be a good fit for the team.
Today, I’m going over someone who hasn’t been linked to the Oilers yet officially, but one that could be a smart, cheap, and effective fit. That is San Jose Sharks winger Anthony Duclair. Duclair currently carries a cap hit of $3M and will be a UFA at the end of the season. The Sharks will being sell off as many assets as they can this Friday and Duclair is one of their better guys available. For any contender, he’d be a great option as a depth option. Would he fit the Oilers though?
Duclair’s NHL history
As a third-round pick by the New York Rangers in 2013, Duclair has bounced around the league a ton. He started gaining traction in Arizona, as in his rookie season he scored 20 goals. After two sub-par 15-point years, he was traded to Chicago and didn’t do much there either. He signed as a free agent in Columbus and was in John Tortorella’s doghouse for majority of the year. His next team however is when he finally broke out.
Being traded with two second-round picks for Ryan Dzingel, Duclair found a home in Ottawa. To end off the 2018–19 season, he rallied 14 points in 21 games, and continued that the next season, scoring 40 points and 23 goals in the shortened campaign. Due to COVID-19 and the uncertainty of the cap, Duclair once again hit free agency, and landed a deal in Florida. His dominance continued in the sunshine state scoring 32 points in 43 games and then 58 in 72 the next two seasons, including a 31 goal campaign.
As you may of noticed, Duclair has a good history of being a great goal scorer when he’s given the opportunity to play higher in the line-up. While being a defensive non-factor, Duclair can drive the offence at almost an elite rate. Let’s look at a closer look at his time in Florida.
In Duclair’s best season, he drove and finished his offence and chances at an even-rate, which is a good sign. He finished with a near 70% GF% that season and scored 31 goals on 23 xG, which illustrates his strong finishing. In Duclair’s best season in Ottawa, again he outperformed his goals to xG rate (23 to 20.1).
This season’s numbers
As expected, Duclair’s doing his usual thing. He’s been San Jose’s best forward in creating scoring chances for and generating high quality chances. He’s also still finishing at a dang good rate on an awful Sharks squad. While his playmaking metric numbers look putrid, it must be considered that the Sharks are one of the worst teams in the cap era, and that Duclair genuinely has no one to pass the puck too. Him generating quality chances is a very good luck and should be intriguing for a contender. Surprise surprise, Duclair is once again surpassing his xG rate (14 to 13.1).
Would he be a good fit?
I think Duclair would be a nice backup option if guys like Pavel Buchnevich, Tyler Toffoli, Jordan Eberle, and even Vladimir Tarasenko can’t be acquired. He shouldn’t be the #1 target however. Draisaitl needs a guy on his RW that can both drive offence and score while also being good defensively, which is what Duclair lacks. Nonetheless, he’s a very skilled player and wonder if Edmonton maybe looks at him if he reaches free agency.
All stats are from Naturalstatrick, moneypuck, JFreshHockey, and Evolving Hockey
