Islanders Anthony Duclair seeks redemption following last years disaster
The good news for the Islanders on Friday morning was that the upper-body injury that kept Anthony Duclair off the ice one day prior proved to be not so big a deal.Duclair was not only back on the ice in the morning, but in the lineup for the evening’s 4-2 loss to the Devils, the first time he’s pulled on an Islanders sweater since his 2024-25 season came to an ignominious end with Patrick Roy essentially banishing him into summer two weeks early.That leads us to the hard news.No matter how much Duclair, Roy and everyone else involved wishes they could wave that episode — and the season that led up to it — into oblivion, they cannot.
The benefit of the doubt here has been all used up.It is on Duclair to prove, and prove again, that he can be an effective player over the three years remaining on his contract with the Islanders.That will be a process.
Its first steps came Friday night, ahead of which Duclair described his motivation as “super high.”“Obviously, new season, fresh start for everybody,” Duclair said.“You want to get off to a good start.
That’s what I’m looking forward to do.Even though last year didn’t go the way I wanted, I always want to come back and be stronger.
Learn from my mistakes and move forward.”The notion of a fresh start, though, is closer to rhetoric than reality.Duclair’s spot in the lineup Friday, skating next to Mathew Barzal, was an ironic reminder that last season those two were meant to form part of a supercharged top line on either side of Bo Horvat, playing just five games together before Duclair tore his groin.Upon his return, the idea was abandoned, and the line the Islanders rolled out Friday of Duclair, Barzal and Marc Gatcomb came mostly as a result of preseason roster shuffling rather than a serious intent to experiment with the trio.The results were decidedly mixed, with Duclair skating 17:07 and scoring a goal late in the match at six-on-five as the Islanders continued a preseason trend of str...