Sharks trade Duclair, receive Thompson from Tampa

The San Jose Sharks have traded potentially the team’s best asset heading into the trade deadline. Less than 48 hours after Anthony Duclair put up four points in the 7-6 overtime loss against the Dallas Stars, the Sharks sent him and a 2025 seventh-round pick to the Tampa Bay Lightning in return for defensive prospect Jack Thompson and the Lightning’s 2024 third-round pick.

The best part of the deal, San Jose did not retain any salary in the trade, leaving that final retention spot open for a potential deal tomorrow.

Duclair’s short stint with the Sharks

The San Jose Sharks received Duclair in a trade with the Florida Panthers on the first day of free agency last July. San Jose sent Steven Lorentz and a 2025 fifth-round draft pick to Florida in return.

While San Jose had hoped that Duclair would regain his form after he missed a good portion of the 2022-23 season due to injury, it wasn’t in the cards. Duclair only scored 10 points in his first 23 games with the Sharks. He heated up in the past four games as the trade deadline approached, scoring eight points.

Jack Thompson brings scoring touch on defense

The 2024 third-round draft pick will be what it will be, but we have a little better idea of who Jack Thompson is. He’s a right-hand shot defenseman who currently plays with the Syracuse Crunch in the AHL.

The 21-year-old has 32 points in 46 games with the Crunch and was a late addition to the AHL All-Star game. According to the Sharks, at the time of the trade, “Thompson ranks second on Syracuse in points and assists, and leads team defensemen in both categories and is second in goals.”

He represented Team Canada at the 2022 World Junior Championships, where he helped the team earn a gold medal. He had four points in seven games in that tournament.

Our friends at Raw Charge labeled Thompson the Lightning’s top defenseman on its 25 under 25 list in September, placing him at number 8 on the list.

“Thompson’s best skill is his shot, which is very good. It, along with his skating and lateral footwork, allows Thompson to be a very useful player on the power play, and in the NHL could lead to second unit time. Over the years, Thompson has built on his one skill to have a very effective defensive game. His mobility and positional awarness allow him to play against rushes and in the defensive zone without much fuss. I won’t be surprised if he gets on the PK for the Syracuse Crunch this sophomore season,” wrote Hardev in September.

Thompson was drafted 93rd overall in the 2020 draft and is listed as 6-foot-1, 189 pounds on the NHL website. He has played one NHL game in his career. He played 14 shifts for 11:39 of total ice time against the Boston Bruins on Jan. 6.

In his 2024 prospect pool rankings, The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler labeled Thompson as the team’s third best prospect and highlighted the larger role Thompson has taken on in his second season with the Crunch. Despite the positives, Wheeler projects Thompson as a third-pairing defenseman.

“Offensively, he’s a shoot-first defender who likes to attack off the line, can beat goalies cleanly with his shot, and does a good job getting hard shots through traffic from the point. That aggression that he plays with in the offensive zone has also become a part of his game defensively, where he doesn’t search out hits but plays physically, using his timing to close gaps,” wrote Wheeler. “He has upside as a solid third-pairing defenseman and a floor, at the very least, as an AHL call-up option. He’s not a super creative offensive playmaker, nor does he have the size that teams covet in their staunch defensive types, but he has a little bit of both along with a pro build and makeup and desirable handedness.”

Thompson is signed through the 2024-25 season and has a contract with a $902,500 AAV, though his cap hit is $828,333. He will be an RFA when his contract expires.