The Colorado Avalanche moved on from forward Matt Duchene in 2017, after nine years and 586 career games wearing their colors. It was a move that was necessary for both sides, as Duchene was disgruntled with the organization. He wanted out because he was tired of being in the rebuilding phase. Duchene eventually was traded to the Ottawa Senators, but is now with Colorado’s rival, the Dallas Stars.
However, it appears that Duchene will miss the first meeting of the season between the two teams. Duchene has not played yet this season, as he is dealing with an injury. The injury arose during training camp, and it has been reported that he has suffered a setback. Duchene is currently on injured reserve, retroactive to September 29. That essentially means that he was placed on injured reserve following that date, but has been out and injured since that date.
Duchene has played in 1,195 career games and has recorded 387 goals and 549 assists during his 17-year career. During the 2021-22 season with the Nashville Predators, Duchene played in 78 games and recorded 43 goals and 43 assists for 86 total points. That has been his career-best up to this point and despite not quite being close to a 100-point season, that number is fairly respectable. In 2013-14, Duchene reached 70 points for the Avalanche, which included 23 goals and 47 assists in 71 games.
Now many years older, Duchene is not quite the same player he once was. Last season with the Stars, he played in 57 games, recording 16 goals and 29 assists for 45 points.
With Duchene out, the Stars lose a consistent player on the offensive side. Hopefully Dallas will continue to struggles up through this game, which would allow the Avalanche to build on the lead they already have against the Stars. It is still extremely early in the season, and I expect Dallas to figure things out for later on, but with Duchene out, the Avalanche have an opportunity to not only beat Dallas, but have the Stars lose other games in the process. Even though Duchene isn’t their best player, losing offensive production is tough to recover from. The Avalanche will have to put their focus on guys such as Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz, Mikko Rantanen, and Wyatt Johnston.
It should be a fun battle between the two rivals, and the winner of this game could end up being atop the Central Division by season’s end. For the Avalanche, I don’t necessarily want them to win the Presidents’ Trophy, as history has shown that those teams rarely win the Stanley Cup. But they could still win the division and fall short of that trophy, which would be perfect. Then, that unnecessary pressure would be off of them, and perhaps on a team such as the Carolina Hurricanes. If that happens, the Avalanche would maybe have the best path to the Stanley Cup Final, and a tremendous chance of getting to lift the Stanley Cup at the end of the postseason.
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