After one of the most hyped-up trade rumors began since the 2016-2017 season, hockey fans were all waiting for the day where Colorado Avalanche star Matt Duchene would finally get traded. After a very disappointing season last season finishing dead last and with more losses than actual points in the standings, a rebuild was destined to happen in the Mile-High city. It only took a year, but Colorado GM Joe Sakic eventually settled on a deal involving not only the Ottawa Senators, but the Nashville Predators as well.
Sakic started hopping Duchene late last season and had a enormous asking price. Sakic was asking for a young defenseman, a first-round draft pick, a defensive prospect or an established player in return. All that for just one player. Any sane GM in the NHL was smart enough not to buy that logic, so Duchene was essentially stuck in Colorado. It even got to the point where, in the offseason, Duchene never showed up to any mandatory practices. The message was clear, Duchene wanted nothing to do with the Colorado Avalanche organization anymore. It wasn’t until early in the 2017-2018 season that Duchene was finally traded. He even had to sneak off the ice as he ‘helped escort’ another injured team mate off the ice which was his way of packing up his things and being sent to the Ottawa Senators. The other team involved which shocked many was the Nashville Predators, but just how did they benefit from this trade?
Here’s how the major trade went down:
Colorado would received, from Ottawa, forward Shane Bowers, goaltender Andrew Hammond and a 2018 1st round pick and a 2019 3rd round, and from Nashville, forward Vladislav Kamenev, defenseman Samuel Girard and a 2018 2nd round pick.
Of course Ottawa received Matt Duchene, but surprisingly they were forced to give up with their young star Kyle Turris who they acquired from the Phoenix Coyotes back in 2011.
Lastly, Nashville would receive Kyle Turris, but just give up their two prospects and a 2018 2nd round pick.
From the looks of it Nashville hardly gave up much and received a star player in return, but Ottawa got the heavy firepower in Matt Duchene whereas Colorado received a ‘Cost-co-sized’ deal from the two clubs, but who really won this deal?
A few weeks after this trade, it is now pretty clear to see who is having the most success. It took Matt Duchene a long while to score his first goal, but he eventually scored his first goal as a Senator, but Ottawa was currently on a 6-game losing streak, so it appears Duchene hasn’t found his game very well in Ottawa. Transitioning into the heart of Music City, Nashville, in 18 games after acquiring Turris, has seen a scoring increase with 2.8 points per game just from the line with Kyle Turris, Kevin Fiala, and Craig Smith. Nashville is the 5th-best team in the league, whereas Ottawa 29th in the league and Colorado sitting 23rd in the league. It’s ironically sad seeing Duchene back in the situation he was in last season; stuck on a team that was mathematically eliminated from playoff contention just half-way through the season last year, is now in that same situation once again, the only reason he wanted a trade out of Colorado was to get away from this situation, but he is now back in it again.
It’s pretty clear that Nashville struck gold with this trade deal, and Colorado has gotten slightly better, but Ottawa is still getting worse.
What is it with Ottawa’s recent struggles? After an impressive playoff run and just missing the Stanley Cup Finals by literally one goal, they now find themselves at the bottom of the standings with multiple losing streaks added to the belt. This Duchene trade was meant to help increase the offensive output, but they just haven’t been getting it out of Duchene. Will Duchene eventually get back to his scoring ways? Will Nashville continue to soar up in the standings with the recent success found in Kyle Turris? Only time can tell in this league.
