New York Rangers Loan Duclair to Team Canada

Congratulations to Anthony Duclair on getting the chance to represent his country in the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship. Duclair, who is 19 years old, has 1 goal and 6 assists for the Rangers over 18 games this season but there is a lot more to him than those numbers. We all have seen just how dynamic and special Duclair can be. He has all the tools to be a major offensive threat in the professional game and will certainly be a great boon to Canada's WJC roster.

Anthony Duclair is going at the WJ. It is not determine yet if he'll go back to the Rangers or if he'll be sent down to QC.

— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) December 9, 2014

OFFICIAL: #NYR announced today that the team has loaned forward Anthony Duclair to Team Canada for the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship.

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) December 9, 2014

The Rangers chose to allow Duke to participate probably because he is currently not getting a lot of ice time and is in no way a mainstay on the Rangers' roster. Duclair going to the tournament will be a great chance for him to get back on the ice on a regular basis and hopefully give him a chance to show off his speed and skill against his peers and continue to make the Rangers look brilliant for taking him in the third round as the 80th overall pick in 2013.

Duclair being out of the picture is great news for J.T. Miller who has had two goals since being called up to the Rangers after Tanner Glass went down with the mumps. However, there is still very much a game of musical chairs in the Rangers' bottom six with Miller, Lee Stempniak, Tanner Glass, and Jesper Fast all competing for the same roster spots and that competition might heat up even more if the Rangers get Chris Kreider back from his neck/back spasms before Saturday night's game against the Vancouver Canucks. Duclair being out of the picture at least until late December should make for some very interesting debate and story lines about who should be in the Rangers' bottom six and whether or not Duke would be best served by playing sporadically in the NHL or on a regular basis in QMJHL. So, how long until we know whether or not Anthony Duclair will be returning to the Rangers or heading back down to Quebec?

#NYR announce they have loaned Anthony Duclair to Team Canada for World Junior Championships. Tournament runs Dec. 26 thru Jan. 5

— Pat Leonard (@PLeonardNYDN) December 9, 2014

Team Canada's camp opens on Thursday in Toronto and the tournament starts on December 26th. The WJC is being played at the Bell Centre in Montreal this year which should mean a whole lot to Duclair, a Quebec native. No matter how you feel about Duke being loaned to Team Canada, you have to be excited for him and how special of an opportunity this is for him.

Oh, and there is one final twist to Duclair being lent to the Canadian Junior team...

Once Duclair is officially loaned to Team Canada, believed tmw, #NYR will get relief on cap hit for duration of time he's not with club...

— Larry Brooks (@NYP_Brooksie) December 9, 2014

There have been plenty of rumors swilling around about the Rangers shopping around for a forward. Why this club needs another forward is beyond me, but it is likely that if the Rangers are in the market for one they are looking for an upgrade that would likely come at the cost of two solid players or a solid player and a young asset. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see what happens with that (if anything happens at all), but for now a big congratulations to Anthony Duclair on getting back on the ice and getting a chance to represent his country and maybe play alongside Connor McDavid for Canada. Go get 'em Duke.