Veteran winger Anthony Duclair was among the centerpiece additions of the New York Islanders’ 2024 offseason, signing a four-year, $3.5MM contract with the team. His first campaign on Long Island fell well short of expectations, though, and today Duclair shared some more detail on what happened in 2024-25 with The Hockey News’ Stefen Rosner. Duclair said that he tore his groin “right off the bone” in the fifth game of last season, and was initially given a four-to-six week timeline. But after almost four weeks, Duclair’s injury still had not healed, and according to Duclair, he “ended up playing too early.”
As a result, Duclair said the injury “hindered [him] the rest of the season,” to the point where he says he “basically played on one leg.” Duclair’s box score numbers last season were well below his career standards – his seven goals and 11 points across 44 games is a far cry from the 24 goals, 42 points he managed the year prior. Thankfully for Duclair, he told the media today that he feels he is at 100% health heading into Islanders training camp, and the Islanders will need him in his best form if they’re going to be able to return to the playoffs after falling short in 2024-25.
Some other notes from Long Island:
- Islanders head coach Patrick Roy spoke to the media today, including team reporter Rachel Luscher, and shed some light on how he views his team’s lineup heading into camp. He told the media that his plan is to begin camp with Bo Horvat centering new offseason additions Jonathan Drouin and Maxim Shabanov. Roy’s comments are notable due to the fact that Horvat had previously spent significant time centering star Mathew Barzal. Drouin, 30, signed a two-year, $4MM AAV deal in New York and scored 11 goals, 37 points in just 43 games last season. Shabanov, 24, is entering his first pro season in North America and managed 23 goals and 67 points across 65 regular-season games in the KHL.
- With Shabanov and Drouin occupying spots alongside Horvat, that leaves Barzal likely to begin training camp back at his natural position of center. While Roy did emphasize that lineup decisions, especially so early in training camp, remain fluid, Barzal is expected to begin camp centering captain Anders Lee and veteran Kyle Palmieri. Barzal has done some of his best work in the NHL at the center position, including Calder Trophy-winning rookie campaign that saw him score 85 points in 82 games.
- Roy also updated the media of the status of veteran netminder Semyon Varlamov, who remains under contract through 2026-27 at a $2.75MM cap hit. Injury limited Varlamov to just 10 appearances last season, and the Islanders turned to SHL import Marcus Hogberg in his absence. Roy said today that while Varlamov has begun skating, his status for training camp remains to be determined. Should Varlamov be unable to resume his role as the club’s backup, Hogberg will compete with offseason addition David Rittich for the spot behind starter Ilya Sorokin. Although Hogberg has the advantage over Rittich in that he has already spent a year with the Islanders, Rittich is the more NHL-experienced netminder of the two and his $1MM cap hit suggests he should be viewed as the front-runner to win the role entering training camp.