Top 25 Avalanche Under 25: #2 Matt Duchene

While Cole Hamilton makes a good argument about #3 Gabriel Landeskog being the Captain and therefore the face of the Avalanche, there’s no question that Matt Duchene is the team’s franchise player. You have to be something pretty special to be the player that management defines all other salaries by, and Duchene achieves it.

Despite the Avalanche’s shortened season, Duchene has had a busy summer, coming off a gold medal-winning run with Team Canada at the IIHF World Championships. He scored 4 goals and 8 assists, using the larger international ice to showcase every ounce of his skating talent.

Duchene’s speed is matched by few in the NHL. His puck-handling and passing acumen are phenomenal. When the Avalanche drafted him at #3 overall in 2009, they knew it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Who is Matt Duchene?

What Matt Duchene represents to the Avalanche is best summarised by the familiar footage of his draft day grin, signifying that he was thrilled to be third overall because it meant he’d be going to the Avs. As soon as the Tampa Bay Lightning selected Victor Hedman, Duchene was all smiles.

Already billed as a top junior talent, Duchene transitioned smoothly to the NHL, his 55-point rookie season landing him third in team scoring. In 2009-10, Duchene led the NHL in rookie points and came in third place in Calder Trophy voting.

If an impressive rookie season was enough to secure Duchene’s place in the hearts of Avalanche fans, his playoff-clinching shootout goal against Roberto Luongo cemented it:

Since then, Duchene has grown into a truly electrifying playmaker. Even when he isn’t scoring goals, he’s subtly elevating the play of his linemates with clever passes and a vision on the ice that can sometimes seem like a sixth sense. He’s a shootout superstar and has every right to his current title as franchise centerman. Apart from the obvious value he brings to the team by numbers alone, watching Duchene when he’s switched on is just fun hockey:

Duchene is an instrumental part of the Avalanche’s power play and he comes up large when the team needs him, always finishing near the top of the season’s list of game-winning goal scorers. His teammates speak often of his determination, focus, and his calm intelligence in the locker room.

Outside the Pepsi Center, he’s known for his generosity and the smiles he leaves on the faces of Avs fans.

“My whole life, I’ve been very lucky to see, first-hand, through my parents, what it means to give,” Duchene told NHLPA.com after a fundraiser. “That’s always stayed with me. I don’t want to pump my own tires. I just really believe that being kind and trying to put a smile on another person’s face is important.”

What does the future hold for Matt Duchene?

Duchene has been such a key contributor to the Avalanche for so long that it almost beggars belief that he’s under age 25. He has two of the three necessary components to enter hockey’s coveted Triple Gold Club: an Olympic gold from Sochi in 2014 and a World Championships gold from 2015. The only piece missing now is his name on the Stanley Cup, and he’s got a lot of years left in him.

As far as improvement goes, it’s possible we haven’t seen the ceiling of Duchene’s talent. Paired with the right players on his wing, he’s capable of incredible things. Injuries in the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons meant Duchene had a rotating cast of linemates, though he eventually found chemistry with Jarome Iginla and Alex Tanguay this year. Duchene’s speed means that sometimes slower linemates can anchor him, such as we saw when he was playing with Maxime Talbot. Depending on the roster situation that unfolds over the next couple years, we could see Duchene paired with at least one new winger that could enhance his skillset yet further.

Like his Captain, Duchene is respected by his teammates and never seems to turn down an opportunity for mentoring the team’s younger players. It’s easy to envision a letter on his jersey, but at the same time, Duchene is also a player who knows that he doesn’t need a letter to help lead his team.

Duchene has also made it clear that he loves playing for Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy:

“You definitely know who’s watching you every night,” Duchene told the Globe and Mail. “For me, I idolized both those guys growing up. It means a lot to me to put my best foot forward. I’m always looking over my shoulder, trying to be the best I can be.”

Contract-wise, Duchene has four years remaining on his $6 million per year deal, but barring a blockbuster trade or catastrophic meltdown of player-management relations, it’s unlikely the Avalanche will lose him to free agency. Duchene has made his love for Denver and the Avs well known and the feeling is mutual.