Ice Breakers: Trade looming for Florida Panthers as Anthony Duclair gets closer to returning

Daily Faceoff’s insider Frank Seravalli brought some hot new rumours to the table in today’s Ice Breakers segment, including the latest on Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, the Rangers looking to move Ryan Reaves, and an inevitable Florida Panthers trade.

Mike McKenna: “You’ve launched your first Trade Targets board of the young season with 20 names in play, and some that soon will be. So let’s start at the top, Bo Horvat, he’s your #1 on the list, but he’s also followed closely by Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks. What’s the latest on these three?”

Frank Seravalli: “Well I think the calendar is what’s really important when it comes to talking about Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. We know that the trade deadline isn’t until March 3rd, but as the calendar begins to flip to December, that’s when conversations are really expected to begin in earnest between the Blackhawks and the Kane and Toews camp, which is interesting enough in that they’re both represented by the same agent in CAA Sports’ Pat Brisson. They both have identical contracts at $10.5 million, and have all of the same clauses in which Kane and Toews hold the key.

Now it’s interesting because we know that Kane would be a sought after commodity that’s been one of the bigger storylines of the season, but the year that Toews has had to this point, he’s sort of turned back the clock. He looks a lot more like the player that we knew and loved from all the success that he had with the Blackhawks. Obviously he’s not quite up to that level at this age of 34, but still, a welcomed and big addition for a team, and that would be welcome news for the Blackhawks, who weren’t really what to expect from Toews who had a down year last year, and the season before that of course he missed in it’s entirety.

So, those guys hold all the keys, and I think when you look at in terms of how this might play out, we’ll say ‘what’s the playbook here?’ The playbook is the Claude Giroux deal with the Philadelphia Flyers last year. Obviously, their captain plays 1,000 games in a Flyers uniform and is traded shortly there after. These guys have already accomplished and won everything that you possibly can. It’s going to be completely up to them as to how it works, and where they go, but the same agent also represented Giroux.

And I think it’s an important deal to point out because both in terms of package and how it was managed up to that point, it’s probably going to feel very similar for the Chicago Blackhawks this time around, plus or minus depending on how you feel about Kane and Toews in relation to Giroux in terms of what type of package comes back. A first round pick, a former first round pick in Owen Tippett, those types of players and pieces will be involved in this type of transaction I would imagine whenever it happens, if it happens before the March 3rd trade deadline.”

Mike McKenna: “Yeah, and of course those players in Chicago hold all the cards with the no-movement clauses.

Let’s go down to F.L.A., home of the Palm Isles. Anthony Duclair checks in at #7 on your list down with the Florida Panthers. Is he just a placeholder? What does that mean for Florida?”

Frank Seravalli: “Yeah, so we take a look here at the next five guys on our trade targets list, and Duclair, you see, has an asterisk next to his name, and those are also his 2021-22 stats, because Anthony Duclair sustained an Achilles injury on July 2nd, and has missed the entirety of the season to this point. Why is this significant, and why is his name on the board?

Because the Florida Panthers have been flying incredibly close to the sun with the salary cap this season. They’re dressing the league minimum, they’re carrying the league minimum of players. You saw last week with Aaron Ekblad when he was sick, they didn’t get a replacement, they played one player short. And so, they don’t have anyone to send down and that means if they’d like to activate Duclair, who I’m told is closing in on a return, he’s already skating, looking like sometime around Christmas at the earliest, he’s got a $3 million cap hit, and in order to activate him, they have no space. They absolutely must make a trade.

One option, may be one of the easiest options, would be to take Duclair and unload him somewhere for free, have someone take him off your hands, you might even have to pay given the scenario that the Florida Panthers are in, to have someone bail you out in order to make that happen. But the reason Duclair has the asterisk and I call him a placeholder is I believe at this point he’s just as likely as some of the other players on the Florida Panthers roster that could be moved.

It could be anyone of them, but the point is to point out the Florida Panthers will have to make a move barring another injury, will have to make a trade, and I think if it’s not going to be Duclair, I think they might be able to find some value elsewhere, whether it’s Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, they have some different options. But it’s going to need to be someone that makes $3 million or more on their cap, and an important transaction to point out as some teams around the league begin to look at some vulnerable positions, the Florida Panthers certainly are in one.”

Mike McKenna: “One player around the league that doesn’t make $3 million, he makes $1.75, is a player that you have at #18 on your list, Ryan Reaves of the Rangers. Now I find this interesting, he has over 100 NHL games worth of playoff experience, why is he on your list?”

Frank Seravalli: “Well he’s on the list because he’s been a healthy scratch for Gerard Gallant and the New York Rangers. Four out of the last five games, that certainly grabbed the attention of some teams around the league that are looking for a bit of size, a bit of bite.

Also, Reaves, an extremely well liked guy in just about every locker room that he’s been in, that $1.75 million cap hit, as much as the Rangers like the idea of having him in their lineup at varying points, and clearly someone like Gallant believes in what Reaves brings to the team, in this case, I think the Rangers would just also be fully excited to potentially move on from that type of cap hit where they have $1.75 million in space moving forward.

For someone who’s been on the outside looking in, I think this is one of those trades given how tight everyone is to the cap, where it might just be for future considerations or something like that. But I think the Rangers are open to the idea, and I think there’s a number of teams out there that have been sort of looking at it saying ‘Hmm, Ryan Reaves might be an interesting guy’ given where they’re at with their teams and lacking some of the elements that he provides.”

You can watch the full episode here…