Anthony Duclair wore this White Set gamer during the Tucson Roadrunners inaugural season.
The fact that Duke spent time in Tucson at all is surprising coming off of his rookie season in the NHL in 2015-2016. At age 20, he played in 81 games and scored 20 goals and added 24 assists. The sky appeared to be the limit for Duke and the “Killer D’s”.
2016-2017 turned out to be a nightmare season for Duke and the Arizona Coyotes, however, and midway through he found himself out of favor with Dave Tippett and on his way south to Tucson for an AHL assignment.
His shooting percentage had dropped to 6.6% and he had just 5 goals and 10 assists in 58 total games.
Duke’s time in Tucson wasn’t much better, either.
Whether he was in a slump or just didn’t take well to the demotion, he scored just 1 goal and 7 assists in 16 games while being a -11. He did return to the Coyotes for the end of the season, but the damage appeared to be done in the eyes of the organization and he was traded to Chicago halfway through the 2017-2018 season.
Anthony Duclair skates against the Texas Stars on February 11th, 2017. The jersey is photomatched to a board burn/hole on the right sleeve. (photo credit: Texas Stars)
Given his short tenure in Tucson (and the fact he’s not an overly physical player), there is not much wear on Duke’s jersey.
In his 16 games, the team was on the road for half of those and they wear their whites on the road for the second half of the season leaving Duke to wear this White Set game worn jersey in 8 games.
The left sleeve has a few puck marks below the elbow as well as green paint transfer marks on the hem of the wrist. There are also some loose threads in the sleeve numbers.
The right sleeve has very faint marking and a board burn hole on the right elbow that led to the only photomatch of the jersey. There are also loose threads on the right sleeve numbers.
The back is pretty pristine and clear of marking or wear beyond wash wear.
Anthony Duclair was meant to usher in a new era of Coyotes hockey alongside Max Domi and Dylan Strome, among others.
Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way.
Duke and Domi chaffed under new head coach Rick Tocchet, and Dylan Strome never quite lived up to his billing. The Coyotes remain anemic offensively and their draft record over the past decade plus is abysmal at best.
Still, fans can hang their hats on the excitement created by the “Killer D’s” in the 2015-2016 NHL season.
We’ll always wonder what might have been, of course. For a brief moment Duke looked like found gold in the desert, and his partnership with Max Domi had the fans buzzing again.
As a fan, it’s good to see that Anthony Duclair has found his feet again in the NHL.
Though he’s bounced around a bit, he has now racked up three straight seasons of consistent play and secondary scoring. 2020-2021 was shaping up to be his best one yet scoring wise, as he scored 32 points in just 43 games. His career high remains the 44 points he scored in 81 games in his rookie season in Arizona, but he would have easily eclipsed that this season.
I suspect he might get some better offers as a free agent this offseason than the one year, 1.7 million deal he signed with Florida last season.