CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. — The last time Anthony Duclair held his youth development camp at the Florida Panthers IceDen, he answered questions about the trade rumors swirling around him.
Duclair ended up being traded by the Panthers on July 1, 2023, going to the San Jose Sharks for Steven Lorentz and a fifth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.
On Thursday he closed his camp with a similar air of ignorance.
Duclair, 28, will be a free agent when the market opens on Monday.
It will be his first time as a free agent since signing a one-year deal with Florida on Dec. 17, 2020. He then signed a three-year deal with the Panthers.
Duclair finished his season with the Tampa Bay Lightning after being traded there from the Sharks on March 8.
“I’m excited and confident with where I’m at right now,” said Duclair, who had 42 points (24 goals, 18 assists) in 73 games with Tampa Bay and San Jose last season.
“Wherever I end up, I think it will be a great opportunity for me. I’m looking forward to next week and the process that goes with it. It might be a quick process; it might be a long process. You never know.”
When Duclair signed his previous contracts with the Panthers, he represented himself, saying he wanted to meet the teams personally and make sure he told them his story.
This time around, Duclair is represented by Paul Theofanous and hopes to find several suitors for his services.
In three seasons with the Panthers, Duclair scored 99 points (43 goals, 56 assists), including a career-high 31 goals with 58 points in 2021-22.
Duclair missed the start of the 2022-23 season with the Panthers due to an Achilles injury.
He returned midseason and scored two goals with nine points in 20 games, with four goals and 11 points during Florida’s run to the Stanley Cup Final that year.
“I think it’s going to be a lot different this time,” Duclair said of being a free agent.
“I’m older now, I’m in my prime and I’m ready to compete and take a spot in the top six, wherever that may be.”
Duclair, whose Lightning was eliminated from the Eastern Conference’s first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Panthers this postseason, said he was “happy” to see his former teammates win the Stanley Cup earlier in the week. .
“I still have a lot of friends on that team, guys I consider brothers,” Duclair said. “Seeing them lift the Cup, I felt very happy for them. I know there are a lot of good people in this organization who deserve it. I can’t speak highly enough of my time with the Panthers and how I was treated here.
“As far as I’m concerned, I’m really excited for them and I would have loved to be there. They were the best team all year and they deserved it. The experience of getting to the Stanley Cup Final last year really helped them push themselves this year.”
Duclair, who is spending his offseason in Fort Lauderdale, wrapped up a week-long camp for 65 youth players ages 7 to 14, including more than a dozen girls, as part of the Anthony Duclair Foundation, which kicked off at the 2022 NHL All-Star Game in South Florida.
Next month he will organize a second camp in Montreal.
“Last year’s camp had 30 players, so we were able to double that this year,” Duclair said. “It has been very fun. We have some familiar faces from last year, so it’s good to follow their progress. The new kids were a little shy on Monday, but on Tuesday, it was like they had been here with us the whole time.
“It’s great to see these kids of different races and ethnicities come together and form one team. We preach unity because that’s what my parents taught me and I try to pass that on to them. It’s about becoming a better hockey player, but more than that, a better person.”
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