DUCHENE DEAL WOULD BE IDEAL
Senators GM should explore every option to bring Avalanche winger here
After the week that was, it’s time for the Ottawa Senators to seriously consider joining the Matt Duchene sweepstakes.
In one sense, it was a great run for the Senators, picking up seven of eight points last week, gaining considerable ground on every team they’re fighting with to secure a playoff spot.
From another perspective, it was an awful stretch, losing considerable skill and a loud dressing room voice when Clarke MacArthur was not cleared to return for the rest of the season because of lingering post-concussion symptoms.
When you add those two factors together — and let’s throw in captain Erik Karlsson’s longterm future, for good measure — it makes sense for general manager Pierre Dorion to take a hard look at trading for Duchene before the March 1 trade deadline.
The 26-year-old centre/left winger is heading into his peak hockey years with two more seasons remaining on his contract. Duchene will make US$6 million next season and US$6.5 million in 2018-19, with a salary-cap hit of US$6 million. He has topped 20 goals and 55 points in his past three seasons and is on target to hit the 25 and 50 marks this time around.
Of course, securing Duchene won’t be easy. The Colorado Avalanche would likely want a piece of the Senators’ blue line corps and a healthy piece of their future. Maybe even a bit more.
Prospects Thomas Chabot and Colin White, fresh from their world junior tournament success, will certainly enter into the discussions.
The situation is complicated because the Senators are without second-round draft picks in the next two years, having dealt those away to Toronto and the New York Rangers. There are also Las Vegas expansion draft considerations: bringing in an additional player would mean exposing another player off the roster.
Now, let’s look at the glass-isthree-quarters full side of the equation.
Duchene would instantly fill the MacArthur void, at least from an offensive production point of view. He would provide the type of depth coach Guy Boucher dreams about at night.
If, for instance, Duchene arrived and the bumping down process meant Ryan Dzingel became a fourth-line left winger, the Senators would have a legitimate scoring threat at the bottom end of their roster.
Boucher, who has repeatedly talked about the importance of forward depth in recent weeks, would be inclined to trust that unit for more than the six minutes per game they’re getting now.
On top of that, acquiring the Avalanche star would be an insurance policy in case of — cross your fingers here, Senators fans — another injury to a top-six forward.
The argument for picking up Duchene would be different if the Senators were in the same spot as Boston, Florida, Carolina, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Detroit and Tampa. They’re all on a hamster wheel, going round and round without getting any further ahead in the standings.
At this point, Washington and Pittsburgh are the class of the East. The Senators have made a step closer, among the best of the rest, thanks in large part to Dorion’s steal of an early-season trade for goaltender Mike Condon.
The window for playoff hope has opened again, but there’s never any guarantee it won’t close quickly. Just ask fans in Florida and Tampa, trying to figure out what happened to all the promise for consistent success.
Meanwhile, with the Senators staying competitive into the second half of the season, their fans are gradually coming back after the miserable scene of so many empty seats in October and November.
Bringing in a player of Duchene’s ability for the stretch run would add another layer of excitement, the type of attention which should help even more at the box office. It would also be an indication that owner Eugene Melnyk is committed to finding that winning edge now.
If we look to the future, there’s a Karlsson factor involved here, too. Karlsson is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent following the 2018-19 season.
Unless the Senators extend him to a lucrative deal making him one of the NHL’s highest paid players, he’ll soon be in John Tavares territory, with the conversations about his longterm future becoming a daily topic around the league.
It’s not quite a tip-of-the-iceberg issue yet, but it’s looming in the background: How many more chances will the Senators get with Karlsson on board?
Rest assured, Dorion will do something on the trade front in the next five weeks to improve the team.
Ultimately, the price to acquire Duchene could be too high, but the Senators are certainly in a position to give the move serious thought.