A lot of people seem to think Calgary should trade for Duclair to play with Huberdeau. I don't agree but I'd be willing to make this trade not because I want him or I think getting him will help Huberdeau but because it:

1. opens up an NHL roster spot for Dustin Wolf
2. only costs Calgary 800k in cap space this year
3. frees up 2.2 mil in cap space for Calgary next year

If by some miracle Duclair turns out to be a useful addition to the Flames maybe we resign him in the summer.

Trying to figure out why the Sharks make this trade. Goaltending has been a strength for the Sharks this year. There have been a handful of bad nights, but most of the Sharks' issues stem from an inability to get the puck out of the zone as well as giving up the most high danger scoring chances in the league rather than from poor play from their goalies. Duclair should be moved to gain assets, not cost assets. Any Sharks trade involving a goalie should be their own goalie going one way and assets coming back.

Sharks do it because it let's them flip a goalie with 50% retention at the trade deadline for a higher pick. It also moves one of their many UFAs (7 not counting the 4 on IR/LTIR) and frees up his 3 mil in cap space. Those 7 pending UFAs include goalie Kahkonen too, Vladar and Blackwood have 1 and 2 more years under contract respectively.

Also this is based on discussion in another thread that had Duclair going to Calgary.

I still don't think it makes sense. The Sharks have 1 retention slot remaining and plenty of players to potentially use it on. They can also already move a goalie at the deadline..teams will often send back an underperforming goalie in those trades. Even if a goalie doesn't come back, if it's at the TDL the team could give an opportunity to one of their AHL goalies to get some starts as a backup. After that point there will be around 20 games left, so it'd only be about 6-8 starts for a tanking team where losing an extra game or 2 (they probably lose most of them anyway) helps if anything. Duclair also has some value himself as an inexpensive player who can go score some goals (my guess would be around a 3rd, though if he maintains the way he's performed the last few games it could maybe move up to a 2nd).

Moving Vladar will happen but this might not be the right team. How about Dube instead? He has stagnated this year but the Sharks could resurrect him. Duclair can audition next to Hugedough and if they can find their past chemistry, he could be signed before July.