Anthony Duclair bet on himself. Now the Panthers are betting on him in the Stanley Cup Final

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SUMMERLIN, Nev. — Whatever the reasoning for the perception, Anthony Duclair was trying to change the narrative about himself as a hockey player and a person.

He had reportedly requested his way out of Phoenix. John Tortorella publicly scorched him, saying he had “bad listening skills,” and “I don’t think he knows how to play,” just before he was sent packing from Columbus. He’s just 27, yet he’s already on his sixth team since being drafted 80 overall by the Rangers 10 years ago due to criticisms of inconsistency, defensive issues and attitude problems.

Duclair felt he got a bad rap.

That’s why the FloridaPanthers speedster says he fired his agent three years ago and bet on himself by representing himself heading into contract negotiations with the Ottawa Senators. Duclair had just scored 23 goals in 66 games and made the All-Star Game before COVID-19 halted the 2019-20 season. Reportedly, however, he turned down a mid-term extension in the $4 million range and wound up an unrestricted free agent because the Sens decided not to tender him a qualifying offer perhaps out of fear of a possible lucrative arbitration award.

As for becoming his own agent, Duclair says, “It’s been awesome, and I’d do it again. Just one of those things where I felt like it was the right thing to do. I always thought about it, to be honest, even early in my career, that this was something I wanted to do.

“And then when COVID happened, it’s just one of those things where I didn’t really like where my career was going. I didn’t like where my career had gone so far. I just felt like I had a lot more to prove. And I just felt like there was just a nasty rap about myself and I just wanted to clear things up and just have a chance to talk to people, talk to GMs and just get their feeling for me as a player and as a person rather than to talk to a third person.”

Duclair says Panthers GM Bill Zito was the first GM to call.

They had a relationship from when Zito was an assistant GM in Columbus, so Duclair trusted him and ultimately signed a one-year, $1.7 million contract.

As fast as Duclair is, as offensively gifted as he is, it’s a little peculiar that the deal was his fourth consecutive one-year contract signed with a fourth consecutive GM on a fourth consecutive team.

In 2017-18, he signed a one-year, $1.2 million deal with the Coyotes’ John Chayka. In 2018-19, he signed a one-year, $650,000 deal with the Blue Jackets’ Jarmo Kekalainen. In 2019-20, he signed a one-year, $1.65 million deal with the Senators’ Pierre Dorion.

“I just feel like it was way better for me to contact teams myself and let them know my position and let them know who I am as a person rather than just that guarantee from a third party,” Duclair said. “It was a great experience to tell my story and get a feel for the market. A lot of GMs actually respected it, which was nice. I did my research, did my homework, tried to make sure that when I left Ottawa, the next team I played for, I’m there for a little bit and comfortable and fine living there.”

Duclair scored 10 goals and 32 points during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season, researched his market value and negotiated a three-year, $9 million with Zito, a former agent himself, in 2021.

That deal looked like a bargain last season when Duclair scored a career-high 31 goals and 58 points in 74 games. But during offseason training, Duclair ruptured his left Achilles tendon, underwent surgery and missed more than half this season.

But here we are a little more than three months since his return and Duclair has not only found himself in the Stanley Cup Final, he scored the tying goal with 10 seconds left in the second period Saturday night before Vegas pulled away in the third period en route to a 5-2 Game 1 win.

But for Duclair it is so gratifying to be back after the grueling, frustrating rehab he went through to return from injury.

“It was a long recovery. Probably the hardest thing I’ve done,” Duclair said. “I told myself after a John Tortorella training camp, there’ll be nothing harder than that. My Achilles’ rehab was definitely a battle though. A lot of dark times, but at the same time, I had the support of my family, my friends back home and obviously my teammates. (The) coaching staff here has been awesome. You try to do everything possible and get back as soon as possible.”

There is no love lost between Duclair and Tortorella, who coached him in Columbus and now is in Philadelphia.

In 2019, Tortorella skewered Duclair publicly in his hometown of Montreal by telling reporters, “I don’t think he knows how to play.”

“It seems to me he’s like a player that just feels he can get the puck because he’s tremendously skilled, he can skate, he has all those things as you guys know. I just think he thinks he can do whatever the hell he wants on the ice.

“He can’t do that in the National Hockey League. We have spent a lot of time trying to teach him, trying to teach him situational play, away from the puck, all the stuff we do with players. … I don’t know if he just can’t comprehend it or he’s just stubborn. But he’s running out of time.”

Tortorella said he loved teaching and it was worth it with Duclair because there was tremendous upside, “but here are again, the fourth team and another coach pissing and moaning about him, benching him. Somewhere along the line, I think he has to understand, ‘I have to be more attentive and I have to start being more consistent.’”

Tortorella said Duclair was “off the rails” and “I’m not so sure we’re going to spend a lot more time trying to get him back on the rails.”

Four days later, Duclair was traded to Ottawa.

Four years later, he’s playing for the Stanley Cup.

“I’ve done all of my own contracts, too. I might hire Anthony if I get another one and let him do it,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice cracked Sunday.

Maurice didn’t get to coach Duclair for the first time in a real game until Feb. 24 when he made his season debut against Buffalo. It was an exhaustive rehab, to say the least.

“This is a pure skater. His No. 1 asset is he’s incredibly fast,” Maurice said. “Then you take the rehab, he couldn’t do anything. This rehab is six months long, he’s in every one of our meetings, but for the most part, other than some really grueling sessions, none of them are on the ice. We’re not skating him hard when he’s at 60 percent. He’s got to get to full strength before we can get him on the ice, and he has to start almost from the beginning again and it’s on-ice conditioning.

“But you’re not even out there touching pucks for six months, so you’re completely removed from your sport with this injury. He came back, his first five games back he was outstanding. He couldn’t score but he had 25 chances, and then he got sick on two separate occasions and that set him back. We felt just toward the very end, he scored in his last regular-season game and we felt he was starting up and he has in the playoffs, he’s continued to get better and better.”

It looked in January that Duclair was closing in on a return, but coincidence or not, he didn’t play for another month perhaps because Max Pacioretty had re-torn his Achilles’ shortly after returning with Carolina.

Duclair said the recurrence spooked him a little bit, especially because he said he was in touch with Pacioretty throughout both of their rehabs and they leaned on each other. But for the most part, Duclair was confident he’d be able to get back as he worked with his personal trainer, who has a background in track and field and has experience with athletes who have suffered this type of injury.

After scoring nine points in 20 regular-season games, Duclair has scored four goals and 10 points in 16 playoff games. You can tell he’s still a little hesitant, and an injury like Duclair suffered affects everything, especially mentally. He scored once Saturday night, but he was on the ice for three goals, including Shea Theodore’s goal to make it 2-1 Vegas, Zach Whitecloud’s winner where Duclair screened Sergei Bobrovsky and Reilly Smith’s power-play empty-netter.

But the way Duclair plays, if Florida’s going to make this a series, you can bet he’ll have another big moment or two.

“I wanted to make sure I took my time and do it right and give everything I got,” Duclair said of returning to Florida’s lineup. “The way our season was going, I knew when I was going to come back we would be fighting for a playoff spot. I tried to prepare myself for this throughout my rehab.

“I’m very happy, very proud and very grateful to be in this position. I’m not taking it for granted, that’s for sure.”