Dylan Duke Scored 32 in Syracuse. Now He Wants Lightning Ice Time

Dylan Duke scored 32 goals in the AHL last season, tied for third in the league, and he is heading into Tampa Bay's camp trying to turn that into steady NHL work.

"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."

The 32 goals came in 72 games with the Syracuse Crunch, his second full pro season, along with 59 points that tied for second on the team. His first full year, 2024-25, produced 20 goals and 40 points.

He does not pretend the goals are pretty.

"I score goals the hard way in front of the net on tips and rebounds while getting crosschecked and tied up," he said. "I think a lot of it is determination."

Duke, a fourth-round pick by the Lightning in 2021, has three NHL games. He scored in his debut, a 6-3 win over Detroit on Feb. 8, and played 9:22 in an April 7 loss at Ottawa.

At 5-foot-10, he has put work into his skating, training this offseason with Lightning development staff Randi Milani, Barb Underhill and Tracy Tutton. His summer skates in Plymouth, Michigan, included Jack, Quinn and Luke Hughes, Kyle Connor, Cole Caufield, Connor Hellebuyck, Zach Werenski and Jake Sanderson.

"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."

Lightning assistant general manager Jeff Tambellini framed the next step plainly: "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."

Crunch head coach and general manager Joel Bouchard, who has watched the whole climb, put it another way. "He goes to the dirty areas, and he's such a joy to coach," Bouchard said. "He brings guys into the fight with him."