Sportsnet: George Richards on Sportsnet 590 on the trade rumors involving Florida Panthers forward Anthony Duclair.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Matt Marchese: “Anthony Duclair’s name has been out there in trade, and with one year left on his contract, coming off the Achilles injury, I thought he showed some flashes in the playoffs. Certainly not the offensive game we thought, I mean, it’s hard to come back from an Achilles injury, and he took some extra time as well.
Assuming a full offseason, he will be a lot better off in his recovery but I don’t anticipate the price is super high for him, but do you think there is an appetite to trade him right now with the one year left on his deal, and does it just come down to, he just makes $3 million and that’s not a luxury that they can afford right now.
Richards: “Ya, I think it’s more of the luxury thing, right? The Florida Panthers obviously, they love Anthony as a player. He’s one of the more well like players, not only in that locker room but in the South Florida community.
I think if they can keep him, they’d love to do so. But as we talked about at the top, this team really needs to get help defensively. They need to shore up, they need forward depth.
They’ve got injuries on the blue line with Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad. They really don’t know when those two guys are coming back. You can’t really LTIR them cause you have to absorb that money.
So, we’ll have to see what happens to Anthony Duclair. But I would not be surprised if a deal is made with Calgary. That Anthony Duclair is going back.”
