CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. -- The last time Anthony Duclair held his youth development camp at the Florida Panthers IceDen, he answered questions about trade rumors swirling around him.
Duclair did end up getting 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 the unknown.
Duclair, 28, will be a free agent when the market opens on Monday.
It will be the first time he will be a free agent since he signed a one-year contract with Florida on Dec. 17, 2020. He later signed a three-year contract with the Panthers.
Duclair ended his season with the Tampa Bay Lightning after being traded there from the Sharks on March 8.
“I am excited and confident in where I stand right now,” said Duclair, who scored 42 points (24 goals, 18 assists) in 73 games with Tampa Bay and San Jose this past season.
“Wherever I end up, I think it will be a great opportunity for me. I am looking forward to next week and the process that entails. It may be a quick process; it might be a long one. You never know.”
When Duclair signed his previous contracts with the Panthers, he represented himself, saying that he wanted to get to know the teams personally and make sure he told his story to them.
This time, Duclair is represented by Paul Theofanous and expects 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 tendon 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 will be much different this time around,” Duclair said of being a free agent.
“I am older now, in my prime, and ready to compete and fill in a top-6 role wherever that may be.”
Duclair, whose Lightning were knocked out of the Eastern Conference 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 buddies on that team, guys I consider brothers,” Duclair said. “Seeing them hoist the Cup, I was just very happy for them. I know there are a lot of good people in this organization here who deserve that. I cannot speak highly enough of my time with the Panthers and how I was treated here.
“For myself, I am super-excited for them and would have loved to be there. They were the best team all year and they deserved it. The experience of making it to the Stanley Cup Final last year really helped push them over the edge this year.’’
Duclair, who spends his offseason in Fort Lauderdale, wrapped up a week of holding a camp for 65 youth players aged 7-14 — including over a dozen girls — as part of the Anthony Duclair Foundation, which got its start in 2022 at the NHL All-Star Game in South Florida.
He will host a second camp in Montreal next month.
“Last year’s camp had 30 players, so we were able to more than double it this year,” Duclair said. “It has been a lot of fun. We have some familiar faces from last year, so keeping track of their progression is nice. The new kids were kind of shy on Monday, but by Tuesday, it was like they were here with us the whole time.
“It is great to see these kids from all different races and ethnicities come together and be one team. We preach unity because that is what my parents taught me, and I try to pass that to them. This is about becoming a better hockey player, but more than that, a better person.”
