Colorado Avalanche: Matt Duchene Could Return Soon

Colorado Avalanche center Matt Duchene is already skating on his own. If the team needs him to return, he will likely do so against Washington.

Colorado Avalanche center Matt Duchene has waited his whole career to be the difference maker for the team. He has the skill — he’s currently the Avalanche’s leading scorer with a career-high 29 goals and 59 points total.

And I think that we’re soon going to see that Matt Duchene has the will. According to head coach Patrick Roy, Duchene started skating on his own Sunday in Colorado. He didn’t travel with the team to Nashville, and coach Roy said with certainty that he wouldn’t play in either the Predators or St. Louis Blues games.

Matt Duchene was injured in the March 16th game against the Vancouver Canucks. No one really saw it at the time, but apparently he ended up with a knee injury. It was simply announced before the next game, against the Calgary Flames that Duchene wouldn’t be skating in that contest. Duchene has already missed four games and will miss at least six total.

Duchene was the Colorado Avalanche’s third-overall draft pick in 2009, at the time the highest draft pick the team had ever had. It’s well known that he was especially excited to get selected by his favorite team since childhood. In other words, Duchene has been waiting since childhood to be the star of this team.

Now, when the Colorado Avalanche made the playoffs in Duchene’s rookie season, it was Matt who helped the team clinch with his game-winning goal. However, that’s not the role he’s been destined to play. He means to be a team leader.

The last two seasons must have been disappointing for Duchene. He led the team in scoring during the seminal 2012-13 season, but a freak “friendly fire” knee injury took him out for the final month of the regular season. He couldn’t even return until Game 6 of the playoffs, and it was too late for him to be a real difference maker.

Last season Duchene was healthy the whole season, but pretty much no one else was. Hampered with a team befallen with numerous injuries, Duchene was unable to be the offensive leader he should have been.

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This looked like Duchene’s year. He’s got 29 goals on the season, a career best. After a slow start, he has an historic November when he tied Claude Lemiuex’s record for most goals in November. He’s just one shy of that hallmark 30-goal season.

And now this knee injury. But Duchene is skating on his own.

The Colorado Avalanche catch so much flak for not having a killer instinct. That’s not on Duchene, though. Matt is one intense player. In fact, he’s almost too intense sometimes — he’s open about the fact that he sees a sports psychologist because he takes the game too much to heart.

Whether or not Duchene returns depends on this road trip, I think. If the Colorado Avalanche can get two wins, they’ll still have a theoretical chance at the playoffs. Duchene will practice with the team, and he might just return against the Washington Capitols.

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I hope he does, as long as it doesn’t do more injury to his knee. The return of Matt Duchene is something to celebrate, not only because it means we still have a chance at the playoffs, but because Duchene plays such exciting hockey.

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