A lot of reaction has come across from sportswriters on Twitter after the three-way trade in which the Ottawa Senators got Matt Duchene, the Nashville Predators acquired a newly extended Kyle Turris and the Colorado Avalanche got Samuel Girard, Vladislav Kamenev, Shane Bowers, Andrew Hammond, Ottawa’s 2018 first-round pick (top-10 protected), Nashville’s 2018 second-round pick and Ottawa’s 2019 third-round pick. Take a look:
- Elliotte Friedman, who was the first to break the story, tweeted that Nashville is obviously cashing it all in for the 2018 season, while Ottawa quite obviously badly wanted Duchene.
- TSN’s Pierre LeBrun tweets that the Predators spoke with Turris’ camp this afternoon and had four conversations over three hours before finally agreeing on an extension.
- Ottawa Suns’ Don Brennan tweets that the Senators definitely got the best player, but they paid a steep price of two first-round picks a third-round pick and Turris to get Duchene. There was a lot of question about whether Duchene was worth all that.
- James Mirtle of The Athletic tweets general manager Joe Sakic’s comments on the trade, “We feel this trade brings us some top prospects as we continue to build for both the short and long-term future. We’ve said all along that we wanted to be patient and wait for the right deal, and this is the opportunity we feel is best for the organization.”
- TSN’s Jason Brough writes that the real winner of the trade is Nick Bonino, who goes from being sheltered by Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to now being sheltered by Ryan Johansen and Turris.
- Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek tweets that the hidden part of the Duchene trade is that Colorado’s, now without Duchene, will be one step closer to getting defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, currently believed to be the top prospect in the 2018 NHL Draft.
- The Tennessean’s Adam Vingan writes that the addition of Turris gives the franchise the best center depth in franchise history as Turris should fit perfectly on the team’s second line, which will force Bonino to move back to the team’s third line once he’s healthy and force Colton Sissons to center the fourth line. Calle Jarnkrok can now move to the wing.
- NHL Network’s E.J. Hradek tweets now that the Predators have locked up Johansen, Turris and Bonino at center to go with their depth on defense, Nashville should dominate the West for many years to come.
- Denver.com’s A.J. Haefele writes that while the Avalanche got a lot of good prospects, they really didn’t walk away with any blue-chip prospects. He does point out that Girard is close, but a grade on this trade still comes down to who the team drafts in the coming years with those picks.
- BSN Denver’s Adrian Dater tweets that Colorado defenseman Erik Johnson had just one thing to say about the trade. “He didn’t want to be here.” Dater adds that he believes that J.T. Compher is likely to replace Duchene as team’s second-line center.
- Postmedia’s Michael Traikos tweets that Nashville general manager David Poile doesn’t get enough credit for all his moves, including acquiring Filip Forsberg from Washington, Johansen from Columbus, P.K. Subban from Montreal and now Turris from Ottawa.
- The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch writes that while the Senators did give up a lot to get Duchene, Ottawa general manager Pierre Dorion wanted Duchene badly and refused to allow this trade to slip by the team.
- NHL.com’s Dan Rosen tweets that Girard is expected to join the Avalanche on the team’s trip to Sweden, suggesting that Girard will stay with Avalanche this season and not return to his junior team.
Reaction is Joe Sakic is as good a GM as a player. Colorado just made a great trade. I understand Nashville is going for it but they gave up allot, Ottawa gave up a ton and I don’t think Duchene is a bonafide number one center.
Sakic has been bad as a GM
Yes, Sakic has been a bad GM. And this trade still comes down to them not wasting the three picks.
Sakic is an absolute awful GM. Patrick Roy walked out on the team & his good friend Joe Sakic. That should tell you the direction that the team was headed with Sakic as the GM. I was a big fan of his during his playing days but, his superstar status just didn’t transfer over to even a decent GM.
Sakic deserves props for the return on this, even if the situation wasn’t handled all that well, but no, he is not nearly as good a GM as he was a player.
Sakic does deserve a bit of credit for getting what he did in the trade. But, he also did further damage to the little bit of respect that he does still have. The future of Colorado just doesn’t look too bright with Joe Sakic as their GM.
I think every team did good here. Colorado begins to build for the future. Nashville becomes one of the top teams in the west (or cements itself as the best team). Ottawa gets a guy who turns into their top forward without giving up Chabot, White, Chlapik, Brown or Batherson. I think we’ll look back in five years from now and not see any true loser
Smashville could win it all this year, I really see it happening
When Kyle Turris and Matt Duchene are considered a blockbuster trade, it emphasizes just how few trades are made now outside of the deadline.
Turris is nothing special and has never reached the type of his draft status. I agree he’s an upgrade over Bonino for a 2nd line, but it doesn’t make Nashville incredibly better.
Ottawa , way …… overpaid. Duchene is a lower tier 2nd, probably real good 3rd line center on a contending team.
Colorado were the real winners here, getting a haul of high picks and depth players, for a guy that didn’t want to be there.
Sakic was the winner here, which was really unexpected… and Dorian got ripped off..
Turris does make Nashville significantly better since none of their center options (outside of Johansen) are true top six centers with scoring potential. Johansen’s injury in the Finals last year really exposed their center depth and Turris now gives them that depth plus another good scoring option.
And Duchene is not a “lower tier 2nd” or a “real good 3rd line center”. In his 8 seasons so far (not counting this year), he had less than 50 points only three times. Once was due to injury where he played only 58 games (even playing with the injury during most of the season), once during the lockout season (where he put up 43 points in 47 games), and the third was last season on a absolutely terrible Avalanche team where he obviously did not want to be.
Both Duchene and Turris are really good 2nd line centers with Duchene having lower 1st line center potential. I guarantee that most teams would love to have Duchene or Turris as their 2nd line center (with Pittsburgh being the only exception that comes to mind). I don’t know what standard your holding 2nd line centers to but their numbers are pretty much in line with a mid-to-high tier 2nd line centers.
Colorado definitely got a great haul but I wouldn’t say Nashville or Ottawa grossly overpaid here. Ottawa got a younger center (than Turris) with a higher ceiling and one more year before free agency. Turris gives Nashville the last piece they really need to be a consistent contender (barring a significant injury) while Rinne’s window is still open.
I respect your analysis and understand your objections. I suppose I’m using Pittsburgh as the “bar”, since they’ve won 2x in a row .
Obviously, it’s unrealistic to acquire a 1/2 combination like Crosby / Malkin (except Edmonton with McDavid and Dreisitl, who have underperformed as a team), but I think this was just a lot of moving pieces that doesn’t really vastly improve Nashville or Ottawa, but you’re right about it being an upgrade for Nashville.
I agree Colorado got the best return and don’t think Nashville overpaid, but I have to disagree that Ottawa did not overpay. Is Duchene a better player than Stepan? The cost for Stepan was a first and prospect .
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
I ageee, Duchene is Stepan in allot of ways and Colorado turned him into a huge return. He’s not as good as Stepan in defensive zone but a notch above in off zone. Turris is definitely an upgrade for Smashville not to say Ottawa didn’t give up allot for a second line center is being ingenious. It’s why I stated Sakic just turned himself into a real GM with this love sought off how Stevie Y did in Tampa. Also reveals how Rangers return was a little lite.
Compared to this trade, the Stepan trade is a little light but is that more because Ottawa/Nashville overpaid, New York undersold, or a bit of both? Stepan, while solid and probably a better two-way center, is still a significant notch below Duchene. Duchene’s offensive ceiling is much higher and both Turris and Duchene come with a lower cap hit and no current restrictions on their contracts (Stepan has a $6.5m cap hit and a NTC, Duchene has a $6m cap hit, and Turris has a $3.5m cap hit this season and a $6m cap hit for the next six seasons). The Rangers got a guaranteed top ten pick and a young defenseman with more offense than defense (essentially the equivalent of Girard in this deal). Looking in hindsight, the Rangers should’ve gotten more when compared to this deal, but I don’t think many people were complaining about the haul the Rangers got when the deal was announced (I wasn’t and I’m a Ranger fan).
Taking a closer look at the deal, I can agree that Ottawa overpaid (top six forward plus picks/prospects). At this price, I kind of question why Nashville didn’t try to just acquire Duchene in the first place. I mean Colorado basically got assets in exchange for Duchene and Turris.
To me, everyone kind of lost in the deal. Ottawa didn’t get a huge upgrade over Turris in Duchene. Nashville gets a good two way C for the 2nd Line but I don’t know if it was worth the picks. Colorado got depth players and a bunch a picks for their 2nd best player (no guarantees).
This is literally a situation where there is a bunch of movement but no sure thing.
This could be possibly the worst handled trade of all time. It all worked out but, what happened the other day is the worse case scenario,in terms of a trade. When all of this was reported & the original trade cancelled, imagine how the players felt that were involved. From day one, Colorado handled this like they were amateurs, putting a talented young player in a very bad situation. You have to give Matt Duchene a lot of credit for staying professional & doing the best he could in spite of the situation that Joe Sakic put him in.