OTTAWA — Just four days prior to being dealt to the Ottawa Senators last season, and in front of reporters at the Bell Centre in his hometown of Montreal, then-Columbus Blue Jackets Anthony Duclair was ripped publicly by his head coach John Tortorella.

“I don’t think he knows how to play," remarked an unenthused Tortorella. "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. I just think he thinks he can do whatever the hell he wants to on the ice. He can’t do that in the National Hockey League.

“Here we are on his fourth team with another coach pissing and moaning about him, scratching him, benching him. . . . For me right now he’s off the rails. I’m not so sure if we’re going to spend a lot more time trying to get him on the rails.”

The long-time NHL head coach also added, "He’s running out of time.”

Fast forward 44 games into his career with the Senators — including 23 under first-year head coach D.J. Smith — and Duclair returns to Nationwide Arena in Columbus for the first time since that Feb. 23 swap on Monday, Nov. 25, a completely different player.

The 24-year old is not only providing offence, compiling 10 goals and five assists and is on pace to score a career-high 36 goals but he’s also being relied upon in all situations — including valuable minutes on the penalty kill and power play.

“[Assistant coach] Jack Capuano came to me, he said, he liked my speed and hockey sense," Duclair told Sporting News earlier this month regarding his being placed on the PK. "I had a couple of coaches in the past that said they’d try me out but it just never happened. I’m glad that he gave me the opportunity. I’ve really embraced the role."

Duclair has gained so much trust from his new coach that it’s not unusual to see him on the ice defending a lead in a game’s waning moments — something that had never occurred after he was drafted 80th overall by the New York Rangers in 2013. Couple that with his increase in ice time to an average of 16 minutes and 25 seconds, and the once considered un-coachable forward is a rising star.

However, he is quick to credit the Senators’ coaches and his current linemates for the turnaround.

"Just getting the opportunity to be honest, it’s the biggest opportunity I’ve had since I entered the league," the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship gold medallist told reporters at practice on Sunday. "The players I’m playing with, obviously 'Chucky' Brady Tkachuk and Brownie [Logan Brown] have been playing well together.

"You’re not going to go out there just like that, you have to earn your way through; I think I’ve done that so far. I just want to keep that confidence going. [Smith] always going to put you out there when you’re playing well.”

So how did Duclair go from being "off the rails" to transitioning to becoming a more rounded player in a relatively short time?

His head coach chalks it up to maturity.

“Sometimes when you are in the league, you get to a point — an age — where you grow up a little bit and you just play," Smith told Sporting News following the Senators' 4-1 win over Duclair's former team, the Rangers, on Friday. "You don’t let the noise bother you as much. You don’t take the game home with you as much. ‘Duke’ may be in that situation. Either way, he’s dangerous for us every night. The guys like him. He’s a good teammate. He’s been exceptional.”

A relative bargain on a one-year, $1.65 million contract, Duclair has notched 18 goals in his 44 outings as a Senator; pretty good considering he was a throw-in for the deal with Columbus which sent forward Ryan Dzingel to the Blue Jackets. In comparison, Dzingel who is in his first of a two-year, $6.75 million deal with the Hurricanes has posted only eight goals in an equal number of games and has been recently relegated to fourth-line duty.

The deal to get Duclair could also go down as Senators’ general manager Pierre Dorion’s finest; the GM not only managed to procure a potential 30-goal scorer but a 2020 and 2021 second-round pick from the Blue Jackets as well.