Arizona Coyotes Send Anthony Duclair To AHL Tucson

Anthony Duclair was demoted by Arizona Coyotes GM John Chayka to their AHL affiliate to work on his game.

Arizona Coyotes general manager John Chayka pulled the trigger on a surprising move Thursday night.

He demoted former 20-goal-scorer Anthony Duclair to the team’s AHL affiliate in Tucson.

The move was also used to make room for Ryan White who is finally ready to return from injured reserve.

Duclair’s demotion is a surprising one not because it’s undeserved, but because it comes so late in the season with the 21-year-old so obviously struggling.

Duke has scored just 3 goals and generated 6 assists for a paltry nine points so far this season.

Now, he’s heading to Tucson to find his scoring touch.

Here’s the Arizona Coyotes’ press release on the move:

GLENDALE, ARIZONA – Arizona Coyotes General Manager John Chayka announced today that the Coyotes have assigned forward Anthony Duclair to the Tucson Roadrunners, the club’s American Hockey League affiliate (AHL).

“Anthony is a good young player,” said Chayka. “Unfortunately, he has struggled this season. We felt this was a good time to send him to Tucson to work on a few things and hopefully regain his scoring touch. We hope to have him rejoin our team soon.”

The 21-year-old Duclair has registered 3-6-9 in 41 games with the Coyotes this season and has tallied 24-36-60 in 140 career games over three seasons with the Coyotes and New York Rangers.

The 5-foot-11, 185-pound native of Pointe-Claire, Quebec was originally drafted by the Rangers in the third round (80th overall) in the 2013 Entry Draft and was acquired by the Coyotes on March 1, 2015 along with John Moore, a second round draft choice in 2015 and a first round draft choice in 2016 from the Rangers in exchange for Keith Yandle, Chris Summers and a fourth round draft choice in 2016.

As we noted recently, Duclair’s biggest problem is his lack of shot generation.

Whether by coaches’ design or by his own hesitance, Duke has averaged just 1.4 shots per game through the 41 games played this season. #10 is paid for his goal-scoring, so that number simply won’t cut it.

The team needs him to fire the puck at will.

Mostly, though, the team needs him to find that extra gear and become the perennial 20+ goal-scorer fans thought they were getting after last season’s breakthrough performance.

He’s going to get a chance to be the man in Tucson for a little while.

Next: Brendan Perlini Proving He Deserves To Stay In The NHL

The Roadrunners fans will be happy to have him.

If he can get going, the Arizona Coyotes will be thrilled to have him back.