There are things in life that don’t mix. Mentos and soda come to mind. And what about the heretics who believe that poutine can be topped with ketchup? One day, they will be judged.
Another image was causing chaos at Place Bell on Thursday. It was Anthony Duclair, long hair and shaggy beard, with blue and orange New York Islanders gloves. Islanders who are led, let us remember, by Lou Lamoriello, a GM who imposes on his players a hair code worthy of the army.
Duclair was on the ice as part of the Duclair Imama Hockey Camp, a camp for young, diverse players. But he was doing so as a new member of the Islanders.
As soon as I signed my contract, Lou asked me to come to New York, so I called my barber for my beard, said Duclair, between two sessions on the ice. For my hair, I’m going to wait until the end of the summer, I’m taking advantage of it a little!
Anthony Duclair
Duclair had two major incentives to agree to return – eventually – to his clean look from the beginning of his career. The first: a 4-year, $14 million contract, the longest and most lucrative he has signed to date. The second: the chance to reconnect with a certain Patrick Roy. Reconnect, because it was under Roy, in 2011, that a young Duclair took his first steps in the QMJHL.
1er Last July, according to Duclair’s account, Roy called him. “He told me he wanted me. Hearing that from your ex-coach, even if it’s been 12 years, it warms your heart,” Duclair concedes. “I loved playing for him with the Remparts.”
“I was 15 the first time I met him. You’re a kid from Montreal, you meet Patrick Roy and he wants to coach you, that’s something, right?” he asks the three journalists in front of him.
“The two years with him in Quebec changed my career on the ice and off the ice. I learned very quickly to be a professional. I know exactly what he wants.”
Barring a trade, Duclair will finally be entitled, at 28, soon to be 29, to the stability that has eluded him since he arrived in Manhattan at 19 for his NHL debut. The Islanders will be his ninth team; he has never played more than 172 games with a single club. With six of his eight employers, he has not even made it to 100 games.
He got that stability by showing some consistency in recent years: 24 goals in 73 games last season, 31 goals in 74 outings in 2021-22. In between, a season of just 20 games due to injury, but once back in action, he helped the Panthers reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2023.
Leave your mark
Goals and assists are all well and good, but Duclair also wants to make a name for himself off the ice. Hence the camp he and Bokondji Imama are holding this week, in which 52 youngsters are participating.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Anthony Duclair
About ten friends and family support them during the ice sessions, none more energetic than Kevin Raphaël who, with his constant encouragement, changes the soundtrack of the exercises as soon as he sets foot on the ice rink. A real day camp facilitator!
When I was young and I played a game, I was the only black guy on both teams. It changes from year to year. My little brother is seven years younger than me and on his midget AAA team, there were four or five black guys. Boko and I try to do our part.
Anthony Duclair
Duclair says he’s encouraged by what he’s seeing in the NHL. Faces remain overwhelmingly white, but he cites recent examples of Quinton Byfield, 2e choice in 2020, and Cayden Lindstrom, 4e picks in the last draft, as well as new models. In fact, the faces were quite diverse in the 1er tour last June, with Lindstrom, but also Tij Iginla, Zayne Parekh and EJ Emery. We could even add the hope of Canadian Michael Hage, born to Egyptian parents.
“It’s a lot for the next generation. The kids all have idols and this representation will help a lot,” he says.
The forward also wants to do his part. Last February, a synthetic ice rink, financed in particular by his foundation, was inaugurated in Lauderdale Lakes, a distant suburb of Miami. He now wants to take advantage of his future stability on Long Island to also set up initiatives there.
“I haven’t talked about it yet, but coming into camp, I want to have conversations. I’m going to talk to the Islanders Foundation about some big projects. It’s four years. I want to make my mark, not just on the ice, but off the ice as well.”