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Duchene’s Enthusiasm

Colorado Avalanche center Matt Duchene’s exuberance is infectious. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

First of all, 24 is still young, but it’s not crazy young anymore. Duchene is nearing the quarter-century mark, and that’s a significant milestone. For a lot of us, it’s all downhill from there. For hockey players, especially forwards, it’s when you hit your stride toward you peak.

That said, Duchene still so much looks like the fresh-faced, idealistic 18-year-old who cracked the team right away. The kid who stayed with an older teammate, Adam Foote, to still have the family experience:

I suspect even when he’s in his 30s, and eventually retires — hopefully from the Avs — he’ll still be that youngster to some of us. His enthusiasm seems to have never matured. And that’s a good thing because mature enthusiasm is sedate — and do we really want our Dutchy to become sedate?

To me, and to many of us, Matt Duchene will always be this kid:

He’ll always be the kid who declares, “Yes!” when his favorite team selects him in the NHL Draft. (And the kid who calls his dad an “idiot” in his nervous exuberance — that’s pretty precious, too.)