This day was going to come eventually, when the Rangers were going to be forcefully reminded of what they gave up to get Keith Yandle, and what could have been.
So on Thursday night at the Garden, there will be Anthony Duclair, clad in his Coyotes jersey, knowing in the first six games this season, he already has more goals — five — than anyone on the Blueshirts.
“The Duke!” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said with a big smile after Wednesday’s practice. “Love the Duke, love the Duke. You know, sometimes to get a good player, you have to give up players and good young prospects. That’s what we did there.”
Last season, Duclair, then 19, had a terrific training camp with the Rangers and made the team, dazzling with his speed and skill. But he came back to Earth in playing 18 NHL games, and eventually was sent back to his junior team. Then came the trade deadline, and then-general manager Glen Sather sent him as part of the deal to Arizona in exchange for something the Rangers had coveted for a long time in the offensive-minded defenseman Yandle.
“He had real strong skill set with the puck and speed-wise,” Vigneault said about Duclair. “You just wonder, like any young player, is he going to be able to put it all together? Time always tells. He’s off to a pretty good start, from what I understand. But he was a good kid, a hard-working kid, and we wish him the best.”
Yet, the guy under Vigneault’s employ has not been quite as good as the team expected. Yandle especially has struggled during the Rangers first seven games this season (4-2-1), and that’s a hole no one on their roster or in the AHL could fill.
“I believe there is more to give than what he’s shown us,” Vigneault said. “He’s got all the attributes, he’s just got to learn to relax, execute a little bit better. He’s a great person, and sometimes it takes a little bit of time for people to get used to a new environment. I would put him in that category. But I do think that he’s going to come into his own and he’s going to give us the type of hockey that we expect from him, at both ends of the rink.”
Yandle, 29, always has been open about the pressure he has put on himself since coming over in the trade. When it was made, it was clear that Sather was doing in hopes that it put his team over the top, making it good enough to finally win a Stanley Cup. But with a handful of painful injuries, they fell to the Lightning in Game 7 of the conference finals, leaving them short just again.
“I think every year you put pressure on yourself,” Yandle said. “You put pressure on yourself to be the best you can to help out your team. It doesn’t matter what team you’re on, or where you’re at. To survive in this league, you have to put pressure on yourself.”
It’s going to be a little odd for him to see his former teammates, — especially his former captain and good pal, Shane Doan — but that’s all part of being a professional.
Yandle said he hasn’t followed how Duclair has done “at all.”
“It’s part of the business — someone has to go, someone has to come,” he said. “It’s one of those things that I didn’t know either of the guys I was traded for, so it’s one of things that you just go about your business.”
One of the things Vigneault mentioned that might have affected Yandle’s play is “the games that we we’re in compared to Phoenix, where ours meant a lot, it might have been a little adjustment for him.” But the coach added he thinks Yandle “is going to be fine,” and that the pressure of the trade or of seeing his old team — and Duclair — isn’t too much.
“As long as you’re pushing yourself to be better, it’s not going to hurt,” Yandle said. “I think everyone in this league does the same, everyone tries to help themselves out and be the best player they can be.”
That includes Duclair, whose talents will be on display under the bright lights of the Garden yet again, and this time it might hurt the fans to watch.