SPORTS IT’S TIME FOR DUCHENE, AVS TO PART WAYS
Tense and irritable, Matt Duchene walked through the Avalanche locker room doors on the first day of training camp as a prisoner of a bad hockey team. Duchene acted like he would rather be anywhere but here.
“I’m here to honor my contract,” Duchene said Thursday, during an edgy 15-second statement to the media before he spun on his heels and walked away without answering a single question. “I’m here out of respect for the fans. I’m here for my teammates. …”
Well, alrighty then. I think that went well. Don’t you?
Duchene is a 5-foot-11, 195pound manifestation of the most dysfunctional team in Denver sports. Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic made this mess.
But know what’s really messed up? The same as with many things related to operating a successful franchise, Sakic seems to have zero clue what to do about the festering Duchene situation.
Isn’t it obvious? Duchene must go. The relationship between
Matty Ice and the Avs is so frosty it could send shivers down the spine of a whole army of White Walkers from “Game of Thrones.”
Truth be known, Duchene should have been gone in February, when the NHL trade deadline passed with him in a Colorado uniform. It’s no secret he expected to be dealt for desperately needed help on the blue line during the summer.
Sakic had one job to do. He had to clean out the Avs’ garage and offer Dutchy in a yard sale. Now the entire NHL has seen and heard video evidence of a tiff between Duchene and Sakic, which can only undercut the trade value for their 26-year old center.
The smart strategy to get maximum value for a $6 million player who was an ugly minus-34 for the league’s worst team would be to pump up Duchene as a three-time gold medal winner for Canada at the Olympics and World Championships. Instead, Duchene has backed Sakic into a grump-and-dump corner.
Blame Duchene for a lack of professionalism while dragging a dark cloud of controversy with him to the first day of training camp, if you want. He’s not beyond criticism. While possessing the offensive skills to dazzle on any sheet of ice, Duchene’s lapses of mental toughness probably make him a better candidate for second-line center on a true championship contender. But he does really, really care, as evidenced by the heart worn on the burgundy sleeve of that No. 9 sweater.
Much to his fans’ chagrin, I have advocated trading Duchene more than once in recent years. But I’m 100 percent with Dutchy in this case. He has been done dirty by the Avs.
After being selected third in the 2009 draft, Duchene was first ballyhooed as a worthy heir to Sakic as a playmaker, then backstabbed from the jump by former coach Joe Sacco as not being all that. In eight seasons with the Avs, Duchene has become the face of an NHL train wreck.
It’s Sakic, not Duchene, who has driven this franchise so rapidly down the wrong track that the Avs have gone off the rails.
I asked coach Jared Bednar if it’s Duchene’s responsibility to not check out on the Avs while dreaming of greener pastures, or is it the staff’s challenge to reel him back in after a tough season?
“I can’t speak to Matt’s mind-set,” Bednar said. “I spoke to him at the end of the year, and I know it was a tough finish for him. I know things weighed on his mind. I’m on his side. We’re all in this together. I think that organizationally we want what’s best for Matt. It’s up to him to get his mind ready to get up and compete for this team.”
It’s not the professionalism of Duchene I’m worried about. But after dangling him as trade bait for months, if the Avs truly want what’s best for Duchene, they will cut a deal.
This is an NHL team that desperately needed to hit the reset button. The clueless Avs, however, are right back in crisis mode from Day 1.