5 Takeaways From Avalanche Veterans Informal Practice

4. Matt Duchene is having more fun than anyone else out there

Matt Duchene laughs it up with Jarome Iginla at Avalanche training camp. -Photo by Austin Manak

For those who don’t know, Matt Duchene is my favorite player. Today he was the first guy out watching the rookies do their thing, and was cracking jokes with his teammates prior to going on the ice. Once he was on the ice, he still was smiling and laughing. Duchene and Iginla were hamming it up while in line for the transition drills early on in the practice.

Overall, Dutchy just looks like he is having more fun playing hockey than anyone else out there.

As far as his game goes, Duchene looks locked in. He was nearly unstoppable in the 3-on-3 drills, and scored a couple of really nice goals. His speed and passing were unbelievable in the weave, transition, and breakout drills. Like I said before, MacKinnon is getting a lot of headlines, but Duchene is still the elite center of this franchise.