That's right - the GM who was so inept that his head coach left two weeks before training camp last season, whose players abandoned before Christmas last year, who opted to protect an injury-prone $6M goalie instead of a sure-fire starter in one or two years, and who had only three NHL defensemen under contract 48 hours before handing in his start-of-the-season 23-player list just a month ago - essentially got three quality prospects, a body in net and three high draft picks for a guy who's known he was going to be traded for the better part of the last 15 months and was straddling the line between not wanting to play and no one wanting to play with him.
In doing so, he may have accelerated his rebuild by two entire seasons and may yet have a decent team when his true current star, Nathan MacKinnon, enters his prime.
There's something to be said about being able to learn on the job, especially if you're allowed to make mistakes.
And that's something that can also apply to Duchene, too. He hasn't been the best teammate in the past couple of years, with many veterans (Jean-Sébastien Giguère, Paul Stastny, Patrick Roy, Jarome Iginla) turning their backs on him and what seemed like selfish actions. Perhaps it was a misunderstanding, perhaps a lack of maturity, or perhaps they were just mistakes.
He has a chance to start anew now, on a team that clearly thinks it can contend in the near future, seeing as his contract will expire at the end of next season.
Here he is wearing the Avs' burgundy (now-home) uniform, on card #WM-DU from Upper Deck's 2013-14 SPx collection and Winning Materials sub-set:
In your opinion, who do you think won the trade as of today?
ReplyDeleteI think Ottawa lost the trade, because Duchene's reputation isn't stellar.
DeleteIf he has matured or was just disinterested in playing for the Avs, then the Sens made a lateral move by sending away a prospect and a draft pick - they still lose.
We don't know how the Avs' draft picks will pan out, but by sheer quantity - and if one develops into a first-liner - they win.
But the best value goes to Nashville. Turris is a terrific 1B center, and they managed to keep sign him for six more years at a decent cap hit. He's worth what they gave up (and Girard may be a terrific prospect, but they still have an abundance of good defensemen.
Clear winners: Predators.