Dylan Duke was one of the American Hockey League’s premier goal scorers a season ago.
The 23-year-old forward is now one of many players pushing for more time with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2026-27.
“It starts with camp,” Duke said. “I’m going to work as hard as I can, be a good person off the ice, be a good teammate on the ice and give it my best effort. I’m going to try to make the team, and if that doesn't happen then I’ll go to Syracuse with the same mindset that I had the last two years—work as hard as I can and try to earn a call-up.”
Last season marked Duke’s second full season with the Syracuse Crunch, in which he scored 32 goals and 59 points across 72 games. His 32 goals tied for third in the AHL, and his 59 points tied for second on the team.
“I think it came down to hard work. I don't necessarily score goals the prettiest way,” Duke said. “I score goals the hard way in front of the net on tips and rebounds while getting crosschecked and tied up. I think a lot of it is determination.”
The left-shooting forward began his professional career on a high note in 2024-25, scoring 20 goals and 40 points in his first full season in Syracuse. He then scored his first NHL goal in his big-league debut, a 6-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Feb. 8.
Duke earned his third career NHL game last season, playing 9:22 of time on ice in an April 7 loss in Ottawa. He was a fourth-round pick by Tampa Bay at the 2021 NHL Draft.
“I’ve seen a workhorse from the moment I met him to now, and that hasn’t changed,” Lightning defenseman Max Crozier said of Duke, his former Crunch teammate. “He’s gotten a lot better. He’s just a humble guy that puts his head down and works and grinds, and he’s willing to fill any role the team needs him to play.”
Standing at 5-foot-10, Duke knows how difficult it can be to reach the NHL as a smaller player and has focused on improving his skating.
That’s where Duke's ‘workhorse’ mentality mentioned by Crozier can help.
"I think the first thing when you get out there is you want to be able to execute the NHL systems, and if you do that, then it comes down to hard work and determination by winning puck battles, getting pucks out of the zone,” Duke said of what he’s learned from his NHL games. "If you're in the offensive zone, it’s getting the puck in the right spot and trying to get inside positioning because, as we all know, defensemen in the NHL are big and strong, so you've got to find ways to get under them and get to the inside."
He spent his offseason in Plymouth, Michigan, competing alongside an impressive collection of NHL players including Jack, Quinn and Luke Hughes as well as Kyle Connor, Cole Caufield, Connor Hellebuyck, Zach Werenski, Jake Sanderson and others.
“Those guys are so good, and all it does is make you better,” Duke said. “It makes you more competitive because you have to work as hard as you can just to get through a summer skate. That’s helped me a ton, and I feel like being out there with them has prepared me for camp.”
Duke also trained with Lightning skating and development coaches Randi Milani, Barb Underhill and Tracy Tutton this offseason to round out his game.
“He’s a perfect example of a player that has created an outstanding AHL identity, and now he has to do the same thing at the NHL level,” Lightning Assistant General Manager Jeff Tambellini said. “He’s put himself in a spot where he's going to challenge for call-up games and depth roster spots, and now he's going to have to find a way to show Jon Cooper and his staff that he can help at the NHL level.”
Duke’s game has grown in each of his first two seasons playing within the Lightning organization, leading to NHL looks.
The goal is more in the future, and they could be on the way.
“It's hard not to like him,” Crunch Head Coach and General Manager Joel Bouchard said. "Dukey is definitely a Tampa Bay Lightning profile of player. He's improving every year. He's dedicated. He goes to the dirty areas, and he's such a joy to coach and go to the rink with every day. He’s very appreciated by his teammates, rightly so…He brings guys into the fight with him."
