It could still happen. That’s always the bottom line in hockey. Anything can still happen.
But I just talked to a very high-level source close to Matt Duchene who told BSNDenver.com a trade involving him is highly unlikely, in his opinion.
Looks like we all have to wait for the NHL draft or later for a Duchene deal. We all knew this was a distinct possibility, but I guess I am a bit surprised Joe Sakic hasn’t been able to get this done by the deadline.
I think we’ll still see a couple more Avs moves, in addition to the just-completed Jarome Iginla deal. I expect Fedor Tyutin to be moved, for one.
But for now, it looks like a Duchene deal won’t happen today. Gabe Landeskog? Don’t know as much on his situation, but things seems quiet there too.
Still 100 minutes to go. So, we’ll see. “Highly unlikely” doesn’t mean definitely not. Maybe there is a wild card offer suddenly for Dutchy. But other GMs have to get on the horn pretty quick here if that is to happen.
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Not terribly surprising really. I’ve been shocked at the level of unsupported speculation on a trade with him. Of course there has been ‘talks’ but Joe made it clear, the trade has to make the team better or it doesn’t happen. Every whisper I’ve heard has been a trade where the Avs are not improved. which means… it wont happen.
This is just such a fail on so many levels.
I’ll try and keep this brief, but for me there has just been too much smoke around this guy. How long can you parade Duchene out there on the market and expect him to still have any desire to compete for your team? You’ve backed yourself into a corner now where you have to trade him. You have to. You’ve mentioned that you see Duchene as 100% gone by July 1 I think I read in a tweet, so why not move on now and cleanse the palate so to speak. I dont see a rational argument for why guys are move valuable in the off-season. Perhaps the Avs got somewhat screwed by the clear #1 leader in market inefficiency in the NHL, the overvaluing of prospects (could write a 10000 word dissertation on that alone), but there had to be a deal to be made.
So now what? In conjunction with the comedy of errors by the front office in the last two months, or really for a lot longer now, the team clearly needs a new direction in leadership. So you bring in a new GM in late May and say “hey, glad you’re here, now go trade your best player! This first move you make sure won’t define your entire legacy here! ha ha ha ha…” Who wants to walk into that? Not a desirable candidate that has options.
This deadline has been far more damaging to the long term health of this organization than any singular event I can remember. There’s nothing to move on to. Just darkness. And if Sakic continues to hide, what message does that give to the dwindling fanbase still sticking around?