Montreal Canadiens: What’s the hold up on Anthony Duclair?
By Omar L
The Montreal Canadiens are one of the teams interested in signing Anthony Duclair, but the waiting game on a decision continues.
The free agent market opened a couple of days ago. The Montreal Canadiens brought their veteran back to the program as well as shored up their forward depth in the NHL and AHL. Matthew Peca is a player Marc Bergevin expects to be on the team next season, and there’s a chance Xavier Ouellet turns things around within the organization.
But after 10 signings in total, the binoculars are still focused on Anthony Duclair.
The 22-year-old has yet to pick a new team and city to play for. However, there is certainly interest. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period confirmed that Duclair has already spoken with the Montreal Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins. RDS included in an article the confirmed interest via Duclair’s agent Philippe Lecavalier via Richard Labbé of Lapresse.
Whether the Habs are his choice, depend on where the Quebec native wants to take a shot at revamping his career.
That’s what it’s all about really. Duclair put his name on the map around the same time as Max Domi did even though the latter was a first-round pick. His production at the 2015 World Junior Championships gave fans a lot to look forward to.
Scoring 20 goals with the Arizona Coyotes answered some of those questions, but the numbers haven’t been as eyebrow-raising since. One thing to make a note of was his scoring clip before being traded to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Duclair had put up 9 goals and 15 points in 33 games. That doesn’t seem much, but he was scoring at a pace that could’ve seen him hit the 20-goal mark again.
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Optimistically, he does that again while being surrounded with the right people. Duclair is a shooter who knows where to go to receive a pass and convert on it. Lining up with natural playmakers in both Domi or Jonathan Drouin may see him return to his scoring ways on a more consistent basis.
It would also be pretty heartwarming to see the two play on the same team again.
The thing is Duclair is still very much unproven, so you have to wonder what the hold up is. On the one hand, there’s not necessarily a rush to make a decision. On the other hand, there may be somewhat of a bidding war going on.
Cap space isn’t an issue for the Montreal Canadiens. With another $12.9 million to the Penguins’ $2.8 million, they could easily hand Duclair a raise from his previous deal that had him make $1.2 million. But Pittsburgh has the allure of being able to play with Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. Both of which have a history of making players around them better.
Next: Salary Arbitration Cases on the Team
It’ll be interesting to see what the final say is from Duclair’s camp. Having him on the Habs would be special and another thing to get fans excited for the next season.