Anthony Duclair: NHL 2013 Draft War Room Prospect Profile

By Eldon MacDonald

Anthony Duclair – “Mr. Electric” – Left Wing – Canada

Anthony Duclair: 2013 NHL Draft eligible prospect; First round talent playing for the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL. (Wikimedia Commons/ThinkingW)

Size: 5’11”, 182 lb.

Shoots: Left

Born: 26-Aug-95 – Montréal, QC; Hometown: Pointe-Claire, QC

Team: #10, Québec Remparts, QMJHL

2011-12 Stats: 63-31-35-66-30-(+38) + QMJHL playoffs: 11-3-5-8-8-(-5)

QMJHL draft: #41 in 2011 (round 3)

Twitter: @aduclair10

Rankings:

A List – NHL Central Scouting Preliminary Rankings

17 – The Hockey Writers, Christopher Ralph’s The Next Ones Top 60

22 – HockeyProspect.com – Oct-12

24 – The Scouting Report – Sep-12 Preliminary Top 30

25 – TSN’s Craig Button – Oct-12

29 – Future Considerations – Oct-12

Mr. Electric

“It came down and across the ground so quick that I didn’t even get a chance to blink” – my brother, Alex, describing a lightning strike in front of his garage.

Well, Anthony Duclair may not be quite that quick, but he is electrifying on the give and go. He has that world class speed that money can’t buy; combine that with elite stickhandling and a howitzer for a shot and you have yourself an elite hockey player. To put the icing on the cake, he was +38 last year with the Remparts, tops on the club at 16 – absolutely ridiculous.

The Resume

Father, Wendell, and mother, Dominque, are of Haitian origin whose families arrived in Canada during the 70’s. Father develops a love for hockey but ends up playing university football. His brother and Anthony’s uncle, Farell, one up’s him and wins the Grey Cup as a fullback with the Calgary Stampeders in 1998.
Age 2, father takes Anthony skating for first time. Anthony loves it, won’t leave the ice, stays two hours, had to be picked up kicking and screaming to get him of the ice.
Age 15, 2009-10 season, Les Conquérants des Basses Laurentides Ouest, Montreal Metro Bantam AA Regional Champions. Anthony had 135 points in 59 games and was the league scoring champion and MVP. Also on the team was fellow 2013 NHL Draft highly touted prospect Frédérik Gauthier (Rimouski).
Age 15, 2009-10 season, Lester B Pearson Seigneurs, Bantam Division 1, win GMAA championship. Score 9-0. MVP of game – Anthony Duclair.
Age 16, 2011 – Team Quebec U17, 4^th place at World Hockey Challenge tournament. Anthony with four points in six games.
Age 16, 2010-11 season, Lac St. Louis Lions, wins the Jimmy Ferrary Cup, Quebec Midget AAA. Team includes Anthony, fellow Rempart, Kurt Etchegary, Alexandros Soumakis (Gatineau), Anthony Cortese (Gatineau), Jonathan Drouin (Halifax), Captain Michael Matheson, a 2012 1^st rounder of the Florida Panthers, and goalie Francois Brassard, another fellow Rempart. Hmm, I wonder why they won. Lac St. Louis then goes on to get the bronze at the Telus Cup. Anthony has twelve points in seven games in the Telus Cup tournament.
Age 17, 2012 – Team Quebec U17, 5^th place at World Hockey Challenge tournament. Anthony with only one point in four games as he played injured.
Age 17, 2011-12 – Québec Remparts, QMJHL, 66 points in 60 games, team leading +38, on QMJHL rookie all-star team, play whetted scouts appetites for likely 1st round pick in 2013 NHL entry draft. Checkout the highlights from his 1^st season in the Q courtesy of DumbassShello. Warning: You will need to be attentive in this video as the speed of the play is something to be behold.
Age 17, 2012 – Team Canada, wins gold medal at the Ivan Hlinka tournament. Check out one of Team Canada’s goals (courtesy of DrPabloRaimrez) by, you guessed it, Anthony Duclair.

10. Age 17, 2012-13 – Québec Remparts, QMJHL, season starts well, hat-trick in 1^st game, season lasts only four games before an ankle injury shuts it down. Season resumed November 9^th when Anthony returned with 1g and 2a. After 8 games – 10 points and a +8 – not too shabby!!! Check out the last goal he scored on November 14^th courtesy of Jerome Berube and HockeyProspect.com.

Well, if that isn’t a resume worth having, I don’t know what is. However, there is still a lot of hockey to be played this year so Anthony will have ample opportunities to add to the list above.

Anthony Duclair, The Hockey Player

OK, you say, nice resume but give me the vibe on what kind of player this guy, Anthony Duclair, really is; here goes:

Speed – Electric, like a rush of magic, you have seen the videos above, you tell me. He has those quick feet that all the other players would love to have.
Vision – Processes the game at high speed so can create openings that don’t initially appear to be there.
Stickhandling – Able to dangle at high speed, puck adheres to stick like glue; there is that “speed” word again.
Shot – Release is exceptional; looks to be in the net before he shoots.
Dedication – Kid wants to be a NHL hockey player, plain and simple, and not just any hockey player – a star hockey player. So, what does a hockey player with world class speed work on this summer – skating, of course. Anthony (along with former teammate Jonathan Drouin) trained not with just anyone but the best, Barb Underhill, 1984 World Pairs Skating Champion for Canada along with her skating partner, Paul Martini. Barb is widely credited with doing the impossible, making 6’7 New York Ranger, Brian Boyle, into a NHL skater.
Passing – Unselfish, his passes to his teammates at high speed makes his game so much more effective than a lot of players his age who just go for the goals.
Physical – For a player of modest size, 5’11, 182 lb., Anthony will engage physically and is not a perimeter guy. He will go to the net or dangle around the net and compete with players of much larger size.
Defensive ability – You don’t lead your team in plus minus at 16 with a +38 when you are a defensive liability. So far, Anthony is at a +1 pace per game in the 2012-13.

OK, those are the strengths, you say, what are the weaknesses, as every player has them.

Well, Anthony has them too but none are such that can’t be corrected and Anthony is working on them. So here goes:

Size – Anthony is not the biggest guy around at 5’11, 182 lb. but that size along with his electrifying speed is enough not to hold him back from the NHL. Considering he played last year at 165 lb. or so, you know this is something that he is working on.
Turnovers – Anthony has been accused of trying to do everything at high speed. In the past year this has often led to turnovers as opposition D’s could anticipate his moves. Hmm, it seems to me there was another player last year accused of the same thing. What was his name? Oh yeah, it was Nathan MacKinnon and that doesn’t seem to be much of a problem for Nathan this year though. I suspect that this is just an adjustment that Anthony will naturally make to his game as he discovers what is effective and what is not in Q league play.

The Road Ahead to the 2013 NHL Draft

In spite of his impressive and long resume, you could say that the road to the 2013 NHL draft has only just begun for Anthony. Although he was on most pundits pre-season 1^st round draft rankings, his lack of playing time has caused him to drop back in most of the rankings. Neither McKeen’s nor ISS had him in their top 30 in their November rankings. However, Anthony comes from a good family, a family that has had success on and off the ice or playing field. Anthony, himself, is a fierce competitor who has demonstrated his willingness and dedication to improve his skills, whether it is his best skill, skating, or the skill he needs to work on the most, size and strength.

I firmly believe that, barring an additional significant injury, Anthony will end up well into 1^st round, probably in the teens. Hmm, maybe my editor, Christopher Ralph, has it right again at #17. No, I am not sucking up to him, it is just that we generally agree on most things.

Music Match

The Music Match for Anthony is “Wicked Games” by “H.I.M” as written by Chris Isaak. I chose this song because that is what I think of when I think of Anthony Duclair, a wicked game.