If Duclair is available, should the Oilers be calling?
By Zach Laing
7 years agoAfter being acquired by the Arizona Coyotes last year in a deal that sent Keith Yandle to the New York Rangers, 21-year old Anthony Duclair appears to be available. Should the Oilers be calling John Chayka?
Who is Duclair?
A dominant player in the QMJHL, Duclair’s ability to put up points has transitioned into the NHL having a breakout season last year with the Coyotes. Duclair is a big bodied left-shot winger who plays above his weight class.
The story of Anthony Duclair is an interesting one. How does a player who scored at a 1.23 PPG pace in the QMJHL fall late into the third round?
TSN’s Bob McKenzie does a great job showing just what happened with Duclair in this article. The article is a must-read, but I’ll give you a bit of a summary below.
The jist of his article was that Duclair’s draft year was a year from hell. He dealt with injuries, inconsistency thoughout the year and there were questions asked about his attitude and coachability. Duclair was a member of the 2012 U-18 Canadian team that played at the Ivan Hlinka tournament. He hardly played there and fell into disfavor of the Todd Gill lead coaching staff.
He returned to the Q and suffered an ankle injury that held him out of the lineup for five weeks. After, questions arose about his attitude and had a one-game suspension imposed by then Quebec GM-coach Patrick Roy.
As McKenzie mentions, the suspension didn’t help Duclair’s rep with scouts saying he had too much me, and not we in his game. The last important thing to note is that after Roy left Quebec for the Avs, where he had lots of pull. The Avs had more than enough opportunity to take Duclair, but passed on him in the second and third rounds.
To Duclair’s credit, he bounced back and put up a 50-goal season. In his rookie season with the Rangers, he scored seven points in 18 games, and was later reassigned to the his QMJHL team and also spent time with the world junior team, where he put up eight points in seven games.
Interestingly enough, he was traded to the Coyotes on Mar. 1, 2015 when he was still in the QMJHL. Then Coyotes GM Don Maloney had this to say about the deal:
“It’s very simple: The only way we could do a deal with the Rangers given their cap situation was to retain salary,” Coyotes general manager Don Maloney said. “That’s the reality of the world we’re living in. We would not be doing this type of deal if we were acquiring a 33-year-old player, but when you talk about a 19-year-old potential first-line winger and a couple of other high-draft pick assets, you realize it’s going to cost you some money to make this type of deal.” Source.
Why is he being shopped and what’s he worth?
Darren Dreger, Insider Trading:
“John Chayka, the general manager, is not shopping Anthony Duclair but they’d consider it if there was a significant deal that made sense to them and brought a center back to the Arizona Coyotes. “Duclair’s name actually surfaced in Buffalo at the draft in the summer, and more recently has re-surfaced. They’re not pushing him out the door, but like Bob [McKenzie] said with Dougie Hamilton in Calgary, the same thing applies with Duclair — they’re willing to listen.” Source.
Nick Kypreos, Sportsnet.
“I’m hearing teams are saying that Duclair could be had at the right price,” Kypreos said. “If he’s not playing well, what are you truly going to give up?” said Kypreos. “I hear that Arizona would still ask for a pretty penny for him moving forward.” Source.
He started and played all of last season with the Coyotes where he put up 44 points in 81 games. However, this season he has seen struggles only putting up only four points through the teams first 23 games. While he has struggled this season, Duclair has all around been a solid player for the team.
In his two years at 5v5, he has produced 1.74 P/60 (2nd on team), a 58.8 GF% (1st on team), a 48.5 CF% (7th on team), as well as the highest PDO on his team during that time at 103.5.
All things considering, it is interesting to see that Duclair is back on the trade block. He is still young, is a physical winger and has produced at the NHL level. The Coyotes have a wealth of talent on their roster,
Duclair is a healthy scratch tonight, with coach Dave Tippett citing a “reset” for Duclair.
I would imagine that the Oilers would be a team that would be making calls on Duclair and seeing what they can move for him. With rumours soaring that Matt Hendricks and Benoit Pouliot could be had out of Edmonton, I wonder if a deal could be made there.
What do you say, Oilers fans? Would you make a move for Anthony Duclair?
The latest from Laing:
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