Matt Duchene Has Finally Been Traded And He's Heading Up To Ottawa
Matt Duchene is 26-years-old and I swear to god it feels like he’s been in every single trade rumor since like 1985. There was about a 100% chance that he would get traded at last season’s trade deadline but Sakic stayed put. There was about a 100% chance that he would get traded at the draft, but Sakic stayed put. There was about a 100% chance that he would get traded over the same, but Sakic stayed put. And finally, the night after Matt Duchene scored a goal in the Avalanche’s 1-goal win over the Flyers last night, Matt Duchene is finally getting himself out of Colorado and he’s on his way to Ottawa. Well–technically–he’s on his way to Stockholm… to play against the Avalanche…. twice.
Yup. The next two games for the Senators and Avalanche are against each other in Sweden in the “NHL Global Series”
Did Gary Bettman do it again or did Gary Bettman do it again? Nobody in the world even remembered that the NHL was going to be playing games in Sweden this year. Not even the Senators or the Avalanche. What better way to remind people and get them interested? By pulling the trigger on the biggest blockbuster trade the league has seen in years the week before the games. Fucking epic drama right there boys.
Obviously any time you can add a player like Matt Duchene to your lineup, your team gets better. Even if that means losing a player like Kyle Turris. The guy is a guaranteed 30-goal scorer when he’s not currently playing for a team and a manager that he despises. He’s a 60-70 point scorer who is going to be rejuvenated with a new change of scenery. My guess is he scores a hat trick in at least one of the games next weekend. And when you look at the Senators’ prospect pool, they made out like bandits here. They get the slight upgrade from Turris to Duchene. Plus they got to hold on to both Colin White and Thomas Chabot. You have to imagine that both of those guys were in Sakic’s crosshairs when trade conversations were first brought up and sure, they gave up a 1st and a 3rd rounder but they already have the prospects they need. Adding Duchene is a “win now” move with ammo already loaded in the prospect gun. They don’t need this year’s draft.
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And as for the other team involved here, well the Nashville Predators also got a lot better tonight. They gave up a couple prospects and a 2nd round pick and now they have a legitimate 2nd line center. Moving forward and looking to the playoffs, they’ll be able to have Johansen, Turris and Bonino all up the middle. Being able to slide Bonino down to your 3rd line and put Turris on that 2nd line is huuuuuuge for their depth. Plus Turris gets a 6×6 extension in Nashville so now the Predators have both Turris and Johansen as their 1-2 for the next 6 years. Holy fuck. With Subban for 5 years and Josi most likely staying for the rest of his career. Yup, the Predators are set for a while now.
Trade Grades:
Ottawa: A-
Nashville: A
Avalanche: B- (the picks are great but I think they still probably turned down better offers earlier)