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Arizona Coyotes Anthony Duclair Verdict Is In

By Chris Reid |

Arizona Coyotes have a Duke on their hands

Like all trades, when the Arizona Coyotes traded stellar defenseman Keith Yandle to the New York Rangers last season, the Desert Dogs had to get something back. So far, it seems like the Arizona Coyotes made out like bandits in getting Anthony Duclair.

Through seven games this season the young winger is third in the NHL with 5 goals, including the game winning goal against the Anaheim Ducks on October 14th. Duclair is a healthy +6 and is sporting a spiffy 45.5 per cent of shots. Not bad for a kid who, at one point, was considered to be a risk and was passed over by the entire league.

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As a young player for the QMJHL Quebec Remparts and playing for the Coyotes favorite hot-head Patrick Roy, Anthony Duclair was deemed to have attitude issues. These rumors actually started while playing for Team Canada.  Coach Todd Gill benched Duclair during a tournament for Team Canada and then Roy subsequently suspended Duclair with the Remparts for “coach-ability” issues.

For the record, these claims for “coach-ability” issues involve a guy who pouted at his coaches in his last game for Montreal…  

and threw his stick after being beaten on a penalty shot by some guy named Kris Kolanos, but I digress…..

After Roy left the Remparts to take over the Colorado Avalanche,  the rest of the NHL backed away from Duclair in the subsequent draft as the league saw his former coach pass over Duclair repeatedly.  He eventually landed with the New York Rangers in the third round.

So what was the real story? Was Duclair just being a kid or were there serious issues? Regardless, the Coyotes studied and did their due-diligence. They determined that the player was worth the risk. The coach that replaced Roy with the Remparts, Philippe Boucher, was a former player of Arizona Head Coach Dave Tippett.

Boucher vouched for the kid as a player and person. Later, Arizona General Manager Don Maloney saw Duclair with his own eyes at the 2015 World Junior Championships. Maloney came away thinking Duclair had a unique ability to be a playmaker and a star .

Now, fast-forward, two years and the Duke is lighting up the NHL. Hopefully, if there were any real issues in the past –  they stay in the past.   It’s up to Anthony Duclair to focus on the Now and the Future because the Future Is Now.

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