Report: Senators Back in on Duchene Trade Talks
While Matt Duchene patiently awaits a trade to a new city, the Senators are reportedly once again trying hard to acquire him
The Ottawa Senators off-season appears to be over, right? Not so fast.
Disgruntled Colorado Avalanche centre Matt Duchene has yet to be traded, and it is clear that he wants nothing to do with the team. His recent interviews speak for themselves:
Matt Duchene will not answer questions. "Only here out of respect for teammates" pic.twitter.com/SHvWrjsFLs
— Adrian Dater (@adater) September 14, 2017
Retweeted Mike Chambers (@MikeChambers):
— Stephen R. Greenwood (@Elblond23) September 18, 2017
Matt Duchene post practice EXCLUSIVE #Avs pic.twitter.com/jwPkTByses https://t.co/Ib1QopeDHF
The situation he is in is similar to that of Dany Heatley in 2009, as it took until September 12th to finalize that deal. The Senators appeared to be one of the teams in hot pursuit of Duchene just before the trade deadline, but the ask was apparently along the lines of Thomas Chabot, Colin White, and a 1st round pick (and potentially even more).
Since the beginning of the off-season, there have not been any rumours connecting Ottawa and Colorado, and other teams such as Columbus, Montreal, Nashville, etc. have been frequently talked about.
However, Bruce Garrioch gave some details today about the Senators being back in on their pursuit of the 26 year-old:
GARRIOCH: Senators aggressive in pursuit of Avs' Duchene: Sources https://t.co/5ZrGxrrP1m #Sens #ottsports #ottnews
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) September 19, 2017
It is unclear what the asking price from Joe Sakic is right now, but he is losing leverage every day. I doubt Pierre Dorion is willing to move Thomas Chabot, but with more depth on defense than ever, I wonder if Cody Ceci could potentially be in play.
Garrioch cites that Ottawa “[looks] at him as one of their building blocks on defence and Dorion has been reticent to make that kind of deal,” so I wouldn’t get my hopes up yet for a trade centring around Ceci. However, it is exciting to think of the possibility of Duchene coming to the Senators, especially after losing Erik Karlsson, Clarke MacArthur, Derick Brassard, and Colin White to injuries.
One would think that White would be a sought after piece by the Avalance, but I feel like Sakic is still asking for much more than teams are willing to give up.
Even if nothing comes of this, it will be a thrilling few days or weeks before Duchene finally gets traded. Because at this point, the Avalanche have to trade him. I just hope they pick Ottawa’s offer, as long as it does not include Chabot.
