Duchene wants to be part of Senators’ future
Matt Duchene knows the feeling.
He only has to think back one year to remember what it’s like to expect a trade at the deadline, to think he’s going to a Cup contender ... only to find out his season will end with Game 82.
He knows what Erik Karlsson has gone through the past few days, and what it will be like for the Senators captain in the next seven weeks.
“I think my situation was a little different than his, but it’s tough,” Duchene said after the Senators practised Monday. "I know after the deadline ... it was hard.
"I didn’t know where I was waking up the next day. Probably in the last week, it started for him. I empathize with him for sure. Regardless of who you are, and what you are, whatever. It’s tough.
"I thought I had a chance togo on a big playoff run last year, and I didn’t get the opportunity. You basically finish out the season, you barely win any games, and it’s tough.
“We don’t want that situation here.”
Duchene was speaking before the clock struck 3 p.m., when Karlsson’s future was very much still up in the air.
No players were available to media after the deadline.
“If he stays, we want to win games and still have fun coming to the rink,” said Duchene, who Ottawa obtained in a three-team deal from the Colorado Avalanche in November. “Because last year was not fun. You can ask anybody that was part of that team. They’ll say the same thing.”
Playing for Ottawa can’t be much fun these days, and not just because what has happened on the ice.
“I think the whole situation there is f---ed up,” a player for the Senators last season told Postmedia’s Michael Traikos last week, in case you missed it. “There’s so much going on behind the scenes that I don’t know who’s pulling the strings.”
Did Karlsson really want to stay and be a part of that? Does he want to remain here to finish his career, as GM Pierre Dorion suggested on Monday. Dorion should know. The two have had many talks, he said, including a sit-down only hours earlier. Karlsson must have made his desires clear then.
And yet, according to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, the Senators were still entertaining offers on Karlsson in the final minutes before the deadline.
And so Karlsson will again live in a state of uncertainty after the playoffs end until July 1, which is when formal negotiation can begin and when Dorion said he would make him an offer “if ” he was still with the team.
More likely, they will wait to see which team wins the draft lottery, and then if said team wants a bonafide “franchise” player rather than to wait for the full development of Rasmus Dahlin.
The Senators, perhaps, would try to deal Karlsson for the defenceman some say could be the next Karlsson. A team like the New York Rangers, who should have the cap space, the money and the desire to win now.
The Senators can also begin extension talks this summer with Duchene, who will be about to enter the final season on his $6 million US deal. He begged out of Colorado because he did not want to play any longer for a rebuilding team, and just because the Senators did little at the deadline it doesn’t mean they’re not going to stop trying before next season.
Guys like Mike Hoffman, Zack Smith and Jean- Gabriel Pageau could still be in play.
“I don’t remember being part of anything quite like this, right now,” Duchene said during his scrum.
Later, off to the side, he has high hopes of a future in Ottawa nonetheless.
“All I can say is I am encouraged by what I see in here, and I think that this could be a very great spot for me to end up for a long time ... if they want to have me,” said Duchene.”
The business side of things is a wait-and-see. I don’t know what’s going to happen there, but everything else ... I think there’s just such a bright future here, regardless ... honestly, I’ve enjoyed it so far. I’ve really enjoyed everything and it will definitely be a great situation if everything works out.
“I want to win, that’ s my No .1
priority.”
And sooner rather than later. “For sure, 100 per cent,” Duchene said. “There’s a lot of guys that go through their whole career and never win a Cup. Right now I’m just looking for a playoff round, to start. I’d love to go two, three rounds in the playoffs, at minimum. As soon as possible. I think that’s what I’m looking at. And I’m sure my goals align with management’s goals. Who doesn’t want to do that?”
Duchene would also like to establish roots in a place he’s comfortable and his wife likes. Ottawa checks both boxes.
In the end, it will come down to the Senators making him a fair offer.
“I also want to be very clear that I’m extremely happy to be here, and I’d love to win in this city,” he said. “I’m a loyal person. I feel allegiance to a team. Especially these guys for bringing me in, what they’ve done, having the faith in me and treating me as well as they have. It’s definitely something I would make work, if it works out.”