The Islanders strengthened their top-six on Monday, signing Anthony Duclair to a four-year deal at an AAV of $3.5 million. The 28-year-old winger spent most of last season in San Jose, where he posted an underwhelming 0.48 points per game on a team severely lacking offensive talent. His linemates Mikael Granlund and Fabian Zetterlund had decent seasons, but it seems their playstyles didn't match Duclair's. He got a new lease on life when he was traded to Tampa Bay at the deadline. Joining forces with Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point, whose offensive skillsets complemented Duclair's speed nicely, Duclair posted 15 points in 17 appearances with the Lightning.

Last season, the Isles mostly rolled out Anders Lee, Bo Horvat, and Mathew Barzal on the top line, with Kyle Palmieri, Brock Nelson and Pierre Engvall forming the second line. Although both of those trios had solid underlying numbers last year, I think it's fair to say that Duclair is better suited for the top-six than both Engvall and Lee. That leaves the Islanders with a few options here.

Duclair's skillset seems like it would be a great complement to the playstyle of Horvat and Barzal, but that drops Lee down the depth chart. It'll be interesting to see if the team chooses to put Lee on the second line, dropping Engvall to the third, or if they just drop Lee to the third line. It doesn't seem ideal to have your captain playing on the third line when he has a cap hit of $7 million, but that might be the best option to avoid messing with the second line's chemistry. Based on playstyles, I don't think it makes sense to have Duclair beside Nelson and Palmieri, so the first line seems like a logical fit for New York's new acquisition.

Duclair has never really seen huge power-play opportunity but posted 21 points with the man advantage through 74 games with Florida during the 21-22 campaign. He saw a modest 51% share of the Panthers' total PP time that year. If Duclair plays well with Horvat and Barzal at even-strength, it might make sense to put him on the top power-play unit instead of Kyle Palmieri. The Islanders' power play ranked 19^th in the league with a 20.4% success rate last year, so there's certainly room for improvement. Swapping Palmieri for Duclair could facilitate that improvement.

As a final note, adding another quality winger to the organization likely makes it harder for Oliver Wahlstrom to break into the top-six this year.

Players this Helps

Anthony Duclair

Mathew Barzal

Bo Horvat

Players This Hurts

Anders Lee

Pierre Engvall

Oliver Wahlstrom

Kyle Palmieri* (if he loses power-play time)