Duclair overcame Achilles injury to help Panthers reach Stanley Cup Final

SUNRISE, Fla. --Anthony Duclair loves coming to the rink these days. It's no wonder why, since the Florida Panthers forward is preparing to play in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in his nine NHL seasons.

Duclair admits, though, that wasn't always the case this season when his focus wasn't so much on helping the Panthers win but rather completing a long rehab process from a torn Achilles tendon.

"Obviously it's a great time, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and you work your whole life to get to this point," Duclair said after practice Monday. "It's been a heck of a ride, long season obviously with the Achilles injury and my goal was to come back stronger than I was before. I worked pretty hard to get back to where I am and I'm very proud of myself and obviously very proud of the team to overcome a lot of adversities throughout the year and come back make the playoffs at the end and just to make the Final as an eighth seed is pretty special."

The Panthers will play the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final. Game 1 will be played in Las Vegas on Saturday. The Golden Knights eliminated the Dallas Stars in the best-of-7 Western Conference Final with a 6-0 win in Game 6 on Monday.

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Playing on a line with Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe, Duclair has nine points (three goals, six assists) in 15 Stanley Cup Playoff games, matching the nine points (two goals, seven assists) he had in 20 regular season games. He scored one goal in each of the Panthers' three playoff series -- against the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes -- including the first goal in their 4-3 win against the Hurricanes in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final that completed a series sweep.

"It's great," Barkov said. "It's a very tough injury to come back from. But the way he's been playing and the way he's come back from it, he hasn't missed a beat. He might even be moving better than he was before."

Duclair sustained a torn Achilles in July and didn't make his 2022-23 debut until Feb. 24. He agrees with Barkov that he might better now than he was before the injury.

"I actually feel better than before, to be honest," Duclair said. "Just, I feel like I've grown a lot just watching the game from the press box. That's kind of my first time in my life I've been out for so long. And just watching the game from up top, just watching the top players from other teams, just seeing them how they're so effective out there, taking pointers from the top scorers from the League and just learning from them and then just applying that for my game whenever I was coming back.

"Obviously, when I came back too, it's a new coaching staff for me, so I wanted to make sure that when I came back, I was part of every video session, coming in and just knowing the routes and knowing the game plan."

Duclair was a solid player before the injury. He helped the Panthers win the Presidents' Trophy for best regular-season record in the NHL last season when he scored 31 goals.

Paul Maurice was hired as coach after the Panthers were swept by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Second Round last season. Duclair missed valuable practice time learning a new system when he was rehabbing his injury but remained diligent in studying the different style of play.

"Obviously, it's different practicing and watching and playing but same time the coaching staff and my teammates have done a good job to just communicate with me and just ease myself back into it," Duclair said. "But it definitely took me a couple games. I wasn't too sharp the first week, but at the same time, I think we I learned the system and peaked for the right moment and I think we all did at the same time as well.

"It's just keeping things simple, not making that extra play. Obviously, as a skilled guy, you want to look for those little plays at the blue lines, but at the same time you've just got to put it in sometimes and live to fight another day. That's been working so effective and especially our line every time we put it in deep, use our legs go get it we got it right back. So, the more and more we do that, you get more and more get comfortable with the system."

Duclair began this season on injured reserve and could only watch as the Panthers struggled through the first 60 games. Duclair said his trainer lived with him to help with his rehab and training so he could return and help Florida's playoff push.

"There were some long days obviously," Duclair said. "I'm not gonna say I was motivated to come and rink every day -- I am a human -- but at the same time, I kept in mind, what was the end goal? And for me, especially at 27, I want to make sure that entering the prime of my career I do want to keep getting better and I didn't want this injury let it affect me long term. Just took this rehab very seriously and just want to come back even better than I was before. I feel like I did that."